Only Human
by BlackPaperMoon82462
Summary: When Lyn accidentally touches a transmutation circle, she is sent through the Gate into the world of Amestris! However, instead of taking the usual toll, Truth decides to take something else. Her life, her family, even her humanity are all taken from her, but instead of the knowledge of Alchemy, she gains something not even the alchemists thought possible. Chimera!OC HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'll start out right here and say that I have no idea where I'm going with this. The idea came to me and I thought it was cool. I definitely ****won't**** be updating regularly, though. Just a warning.**

**Rated: T for some swearing from Ed and Lyn.**

**Pairings: None so far. Maybe EdxOC later?**

**Flames: Go ahead and try it! I love s'mores! Come at me bro!**

**Disclaimer: I like to play with it, but it's not mine. ;D (Btw I don't own that disclaimer either. I stole it from someone else.)**

_(Lyn's Pov)_

It started out as a dream. I always assumed it would stay that way; I mean, dreams aren't reality. I thought they were just simple fantasies. I was wrong.

Y'know how most children dream of flying? Well, I was different; I always dreamed of hunting. Of stalking prey and attacking with razor-sharp claws and- I'm getting off topic.

I guess, to tell you the story, I'll have to start at the beginning. I grew up in a tiny, forgotten town in New Hampshire. There weren't many people in town, but I was lucky enough to find Nadia, a completely unique person who could make you smile just by the sheer tenacity of her own goofy grin. We were practically sisters; if it weren't for the fact that she had silky black hair and dark blue eyes while I was stuck with annoying dirty blonde hair and yellowish brown eyes, everyone would have assumed we were twins. She had lived next door to me for all my life and we walked to school together everyday.

One morning, I rushed out of my house ten minutes late, as usual, and nearly plowed into Nadia.

"What's up mine furry friend?" she greeted, smirking.

"I'm still praying you'll forget that someday," I told her grumpily. A few months ago, I had taken a personality test with her, and one of the questions had been to use one word to describe a dog. That word had turned out to be 'how you see yourself', but I had written furry.

Nadia grinned at me. "Never. Hey, did you study for that science test?" she asked innocently.

Thump. If you're wondering what that sound was, it was the noise made when a 14-year-old girl faints from shock.

"Oh, come on! You seriously didn't study!? This test is, like, half our grade!" she shouted at me.

"I'm gonna faaiiiilllll," I moaned pathetically.

"Well, then why didn't you study?" she asked, a small tick mark forming on her forehead.

"Chemistry's haaaarrrrd. Besides, I'm o-"

"-only human," Nadia finished, shaking her head in exasperation and disbelief, all traces of her earlier irritation vanishing, "You always say that. Come on, I'll help you cram so you don't fail _too_ epicly."

Without warning, I jumped up quickly, surrounded by the righteous fire of those who are determined to do something. "Right! I'll beat that test to the ground and then teach that no-good teacher a thing or two about giving us tests on a Monday!"

"It's Wednesday."

"...Seriously?"

* * *

I was in the library with Nadia before school started, looking for a book with a title somewhere along the lines of 'Advanced Chemistry for Utter Morons' when I saw an old leather tome that clearly stood out among the crisp, new books that filled the shelves.

"Hey Nadia, come check this out," I called while studying the cover. "Secrets of Ancient Alchemy, huh?" I murmured, "What are you doing here?" Flipping through the surprisingly heavy book, something in the last few pages caught my attention. Opening the book fully, I saw what appeared to be the most complex circle I had ever seen. Layers upon layers of incredibly intricate shapes, lines, and ancient writing were scrawled neatly inside the circle. I caught a glimpse of the words "human transmutation" at the top of the page before I hesitantly reached out to touch the image. Hey, it was instinct; I'm only human, afterall.

As soon as the tips of my fingers made contact with the paper, my world began to shatter around me. Blue flashes of lightning flared to life, but immediately changed into a terrifying and foreboding purple and black. A single eye opened in the middle of the circle and hundreds of little black hands reached towards me.

Horrified, I looked up to where my lifelong friend, Nadia, was standing. But when she met my eyes, something about her had... changed. Her expression was blank and her eyes cold and calculating. However, I could almost feel something... glee? Yes, I could feel glee coming off of her in waves. My last thought as I was pulled through the eye, my nerves on fire and feeling as if I were being ripped apart, was that the person in front of me simply could not be Nadia. Then everything went black.

**A/N: Okay, I know it's short, but this was the best place to end it! So, tell me if you guys like it! Like I said, I won't be updating regularly; it might take me two days or two weeks to get another chapter, but if you're absolutely dying to see the next chapter send me a review! That always motivates me to write faster! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, I can't stand having my story look like a oneshot, so I'm gonna upload the next chapter! Aren't I awesome? Yeah, I am!**

**Disclaimer: I tried to buy FMA from Truth, but it wanted my arm in exchange!**

_(Lyn's POV)_

Everything was white. All around me, up, down, left, and right. It was an endless stretch of blinding whiteness.

"Welcome, Lyncasia," a voice announced itself from directly behind me.

Whirling around to glare at the person who had called me by my full name (not even my parents call me that!), I stopped short when I noticed that the person (if it was even human) was the same shade of white as the rest of the world around it. There was only a faint outline and a creepy grin to reveal its location.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded rudely. This was seriously creepy.

The being simply smiled wider. "I am what you might call God, or Universe, or World, or Truth. I am One. I am All. And I am also,_ you_."

Truth (or at least that's what I had decided to call it. There was no way in hell I'd call it God or All or _Me_.) seemed to be staring at me intensely. "Hmm. You really aren't suited for alchemy are you? So I can't take the usual toll from you. Then what should you give up...? I know!" the being called Truth grinned, "I'll take away the things that keep you anchored! Oh, but don't worry; instead of gaining alchemical knowledge, I'll give you something more... suited to your personality! And of course, you'll gain sufficient knowledge to survive."

Before I could open my mouth to protest or even ask it what the hell it was talking about, a giant gate suddenly appeared behind me. The doors swung open silently, and once again, hundreds of tiny hands grabbed me, the pain from before returned, and everything went black again. But not before I heard Truth musing to itself, "She'll be completely cast adrift; I wonder if she'll drown?"

* * *

It hurt. It felt like I was being ripped apart, each molecule torn from the rest and put back in a way that didn't feel natural. And the entire time, an entire world of knowledge was being crammed into my head. I now understood languages, cultures, and geography that I had never heard of. History and inventions and every battle ever fought were all brutally shoved into my aching brain, but somehow, in the back of my head, I knew it was holding back. There was something else, an entire way of life that it was leaving out. I couldn't even begin to comprehend getting this much information and then gaining _more_.

Suddenly, after I was pretty sure my brain had exploded (several times), everything made sense. I knew where I was and who I was going to meet and what would happen. I knew who I was and, more importantly, _what_ I was. But I still couldn't seem to grasp what it was holding back! I searched and reached and tried to find it, but it still eluded me. My mind was struggling to absorb what I had already been given, but not knowing something so _important_ was driving me mad! I knew almost _everything_, but the one thing I couldn't find was going to be the thing that drove me over the edge. Then, the word 'alchemy' flashed through my mind and I was flooded with a tiny fraction of knowledge on this new subject.

But then I fainted.

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

Edward and Alphonse Elric were strolling through the streets of Risembool on their way to the Rockbells' house to get Ed's automail arm repaired/rebuilt when they saw a flash of blue light coming from a nearby alleyway. Upon recognizing the flash as alchemy, the boys rushed towards the place it had come from. What they found shocked them.

On the ground in front of them was a girl that neither of them recognized. That in itself was a feat, for in a small town like Risembool, everyone knew everyone. She appeared to be his or Al's age. 'Maybe she moved here?' Ed wondered. And her hair looked like she had just been electrocuted; it was sticking up _everywhere_! Shaking his head to get back to the matter at hand, Ed noticed that the girl was unconscious. He glanced at his brother and could tell what he was thinking through the famous Elric Brother Telepathy. They were both worried about this girl and wanted to help her.

Quickly, Ed picked the mysterious girl up and motioned for Al to follow him as they resumed their walk to Winry's house at a brisk pace.

Ed looked around awkwardly when her lolling head came to rest against his shoulder.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

My grandmother used to tell me stories at night as I went to sleep. I remember her telling me about a man called Icarus who flew on wings of wax. He tried to reach the sun, but when he got too close, his wings melted. Icarus, the only man to ever fly, plunged into the ocean below and drowned.

I always thought to myself, 'Why didn't he swim?' Did he give up living and simply decide that drowning was his punishment for trying to reach something impossible? That's stupid. He tried to reach the sun because he thought it would bring him happiness; isn't that what everyone does? So what if the gods disapprove? Screw them.

If you fall, you should always get back up again, if only to knock the lights out of whoever made you fall in the first place. You should swim.

So when I woke up and my first thought was of what Truth had said about me drowning, my second thought was that I was definitely going to live long enough to punch that smirk right off its monochrome face.

Groaning softly (my head still hurt like a bitch), I opened my eyes and looked around the room. I seemed to be in someone's home. Bits and pieces of metal and tools littered the floor and were pinned to the walls. '_Automail_,' some part of my mind supplied me with the name. Suddenly, the things I had learned in that place ('_The Gate_,' I was reminded) flooded back to me. Well, not all of it; I could tell I'd forgotten most of what I'd learned.

What I didn't forget, however, was the fact that I was in a whole new dimension.

"Holy shit," I whispered in shock.

"You shouldn't curse like that, young lady," a stern voice reprimanded from the left.

Glancing around, at first I couldn't see anyone in the room with me. Then I heard someone clearing their throat and looked down to see an incredibly short, old woman. When I opened my mouth to apologise, she cut me off.

"If you're going to do it, you might as well go all out," she finished, giving me a mischievous smirk. "My name's Pinako, but you can call me Granny."

I decided I liked this lady. Grinning in return, I said, "I'm Lyncasia, but everyone calls me Lyn. Where am I?"

She seemed a little taken aback by this question. "You're in a town called Risembool, young lady. Do you recognize the name?"

Shaking my head 'no', I glanced back as her, only to see her staring intently at something on my head. Now that I thought about it, there did seem to be something off about my head. I hadn't noticed because it almost felt natural. Reaching up and gazing questioningly at Granny, I poked the thing on my head. It twitched. Gabbing the thin (and furry?) object firmly in my fingers, I yanked it off my head.

Or at least I tried. Yowling in pain, I began rubbing the area in order to soothe the daggers of pain it sent down my spine. Wordlessly, Granny picked up a small mirror and handed it to me. Angling it to see the top of my head, I gasped in utter shock.

There were cat ears. On my fucking head.

They were attached near the top of my head. They swiveled around at every noise. They... They actually looked pretty soft. They were the same dirty-blonde color of my hair except at the top where they had small black tufts sticking up. '_Lynx ears_,' my mind supplied.

I now remembered another fact that I had forgotten upon waking up. I was a chimera. '_A creature that is created by alchemically combining two animals to create a creature that shows traits from both of the original components_,' my brain reminded belatedly. In this case, the two ingredients were me and a lynx. I thought about all the times I had used the phrase "I'm only human," and about how I would never be able to say it truthfully ever again. I recalled what Truth had said. It really did take away everything that kept me anchored.

I looked up as Granny took away the mirror and pressed a bowl of stew into my hands. I was trying to think of a sane way to explain my ears, but she interrupted my thoughts. "I won't ask about it; you can tell me if and when you feel ready." With that said, she left the room.

**A/N: I probably won't update soon. Just a warning! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Annnndd, the third chapter is here! Jeez, I kept having a hard time keeping everyone in character! Tell me if I need to fix anything!**

**Disclaimer: I'll be honest, if I owned FMA or FMA:B, the story would suck. It would seriously have been awful.**

_(Lyn's POV)_

I woke up from my cat-nap (Ha.) and saw a young blonde girl about my age sitting by the couch that I was occupying.

When she saw that my eyes had opened, she made a startled sound and fell out of her chair.

Leaning over to look at her, I asked, "Are you okay?"

"Ow... Yeah, I'm fine," she looked up at me and giggled, "Hey, I'm supposed to be asking you that!"

I looked at her confusedly. "Why would you ask me that?"

The girl appeared stunned. "Because Ed and Al found you passed out in an alley! Do you not remember?"

I shook my head mutely. Reaching up to pat my head, I realized that someone had given me a hat to cover my ears. I smiled; it was probably Granny.

"Huh. Well, I'm Winry by the way! It's nice to meet you!"

Startled by the sudden change of subject, I merely said, "I'm Lyn." Then I remembered something else she had said. "Who're Ed and Al?"

Winry grinned. "They're my childhood friends! Ed's a bit hot-headed and can be a jerk sometimes, but he's a good guy, and Al's the sweetest person ever once you get past his... appearance."

Before I knew it, she had grabbed my hand and pulled me off of the couch. "Come on, you've been in bed all day! You should take a shower and then I'll introduce you to Ed and Al!"

Taking a whiff, I had to admit I smelled bad. Like,_ bad_, bad. I let her shove me inside a small bathroom with a change of clothes and a towel which were thrown in after me. Chuckling a bit, I began stripping down, only to stop and stare incredulously at my reflection in the mirror.

A tail. I had a goddamn tail. And the ears. I can't forget about the ears. Joy.

After thinking a bit, I raised my hand and studied my fingernails. Nothing. Sighing with relief, I tensed my hand muscles...

And inch-long claws shot out of my fingers. Spazing out, I accidentally slashed open the small bottle of soap that had been sitting on the counter. The scent of coconuts filled the air and I sneezed before gagging at the overpowering smell. 'This stuff should _not _be this potent!' I thought wildly before realizing something.

Cats have an extra sensitive sense of smell. That explained _sooo_ much. Maybe that was why I smelled so bad.

I attempted to calm down while stepping into the shower. Water had always calmed me down. Sighing, I tried to think this through rationally. I made a list of things that had changed.

_1. I had a tail and cat ears. (Okay, I could wrap the tail around my waist and wear hats.)_

_2. I had enhanced senses. (That's not too bad; it could be an advantage in some situations. I couldn't think of any at the moment, but there had to be some. Right?)_

_3. I had claws. (Objectively speaking, who wouldn't want claws? They're pretty damn awesome!)_

_4. I was in an alternate universe. (I could ask to stay at Granny's and Winry's house until I thought of where I could go.)_

_5. I wasn't human anymore._

...Okay, that last one worried me. I stepped out of the shower and dried off, taking extra care with my ears and tail, before dressing in the clothes Winry had lent me, being careful to conceal my tail. I put the hat on so that it neatly covered my ears.

As I stepped out of the bathroom, my sensitive ears picked out whispers from the kitchen. Which was downstairs. How had I not noticed that earlier? I walked in the direction of the voices and tried not to eavesdrop. Kinda.

"What do you mean 'cat ears'?" I didn't recognize the speaker's voice.

"I mean cat ears, Ed." That was definitely Granny. I know she trusts these people, Ed and Al, more than a total stranger, me, but it still hurt to know that she was telling them my secrets.

"But Granny, I saw her and there weren't any cat ears!" Winry.

I think Granny sighed. "That's because I gave her a hat so she wouldn't feel so awkward around us. Now, all of you hush; I think the shower stopped." Silence fell.

Noticing that I had stopped outside the door in order to listen to their conversation, I took a deep breath and walked into the room.

Winry recovered first. "Lyn! Took you long enough!" She smiled good-naturedly "This is Ed," she pointed to a blond boy in a slightly obnoxious red coat, "and Al," this time, she pointed at the giant, hulking suit of armor to her right. I nodded at each of them, not even phased by the armor. Who was I to judge? Okay, maybe I was a little freaked out. A smidge.

All three of them were staring at my head.

Logically speaking, I shouldn't feel comfortable enough to joke around with these people; I barely know their names! Maybe I'm going into shock? '_Eh, they already know. I might as well screw with them_,' I thought devilishly. "Do you guys have any raw fish anywhere?" My timing was perfect; my stomach decided to voice its annoyance at being empty at that exact moment.

They all gaped at me in shock. It was priceless! Granny Pinako, who seemed to have figured out my joke, shook her head and left the room. Keeping a constant inner mantra of, 'Don'tlaughdon'tlaughdon'tlaughdon'tlaugh', I walked to the stove and helped myself to a plate of bacon that someone had apparently made for me. After a few minutes of their shocked silence, I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing.

* * *

_(Ed's POV)_

To say Ed was surprised would be an understatment. He had been eating breakfast when Granny had told them, out of the blue, that, "Oh yeah, the girl has cat ears." Immediately afterword, the girl had walked in and calmly asked for raw fish. Then she had silently fixed herself breakfast and sat down, only to begin cackling like a maniac.

What. The. Hell.

The strange girl looked up at them and grinned. "I'm sorry, but you should have seen your faces! They were hilarious!" She started giggling again.

Ed was pretty sure his jaw hit the floor. She was joking!?

She straightened suddenly, "Oh! I'm in your house and the first thing I did was be rude!" she lightly slapped her forehead, "Sorry, I have a habit of seeing a chance and taking it." Grinning, she shook Al's hand, then Ed's, and said, "I'm Lyn by the way."

The shorty figured that would be a good time to start the mini-interrogation. Switching into 'Major Elric Mode' he asked, "Can we ask you a few questions, Lyn?"

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I knew this was coming. "Well, since I need some answers too, how about we play a game that my friend taught me? You ask a question, and then I'll ask one. If either of us refuses to answer the question, the game is over."

Ed glanced at Al before looking back at me. "Deal."

I gestured for Ed to go first. "Why were you in that alleyway?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. "I didn't even know I was in an alleyway until Winry told me." Now for my question. "Who are you guys?"

Winry answered first. "I'm Winry Rockbell. I'm training to be an automail mechanic," she told me proudly.

Al went next. "I'm Alphonse Elric. I'm good at alchemy, but Ed's better than I am at it."

"No way Al! You're way better than I am!" Ed grinned at me. "I'm Edward Elric. I'm Al's older brother and the Fullmetal Alchemist."

They seemed to be waiting for me to react, but I didn't think 'You actually _do_ alchemy!?' was an appropriate response, so I said, "You don't _look_ older."

This seemed to take them by surprise, but a moment later, Ed screeched, "WHO'RE YOU CALLING AN ANT SO SMALL THAT OTHER ANTS STEP ON IT!?"

I smirked. "You. My turn; how old are you guys?"

Trying not to laugh at my answer, Winry pointed at herself and then Ed (who was still seething to himself), "We're 15."

Al chimed in, "And I'm 14!"

I thought about that. "Huh, I'm 14 too."

Al couldn't seem to hold it in anymore. "Do you really have cat ears?"

I swear, there were sparkles flying around him. Almost laughing at Al's expression, I said, "Yup. And a tail." I glanced at their bemused expressions, "What, you expected me to deny it? I already know that Granny told you guys." I mentally slapped myself. Is one of the side-affects from dimensional travel a complete inability to keep a damn secret? Or is it just the shock getting to me?

"Wh-" Al started.

"Nuh uh uh! It's my turn!" I grinned devilishly, looking between Ed and Winry, "Are you two dating?" I watched amusedly as Ed spluttered, Winry hit him with a wrench (where did that even _come__ from!_?), and they both blushed furiously. Hey, I might not be able to keep a secret, but I sure as heck know how to distract someone.

As Ed and Winry got into a screaming match, with Al attempting to make peace, I slipped unnoticed out of the house and laid outside to watch the clouds.

'What am I going to do here?' I wondered curiously, 'How will I get back home? And what am I going to tell them about my ears?' Groaning, I shut my eyes and tried to will myself back home.

I didn't notice the pair of glowing, purple eyes watching me from just beyond the tree line.

**A/N: Well? Was everyone in character? Was Lyn too chillaxed about the whole thing? Should Ed and Al be more suspicious about Lyn? Please review and tell me! I need input, and since I really have nothing but the vaguest ideas about where this is going, feel free to give ideas!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello all! It's friday and I'll be at the beach all weekend (no internet D: ) so I'll update now because I'm an awesome authoress. Aren't I? *glares threateningly at the ones who disagree* *they run away screaming* Hmpf. I thought so. **

**On to more serious matters, I have no idea whether this story is set in the 2003 anime or Brotherhood. Maybe it will have elements of both? As for when in the plot this takes place, it's after Laboratory 5 but before Hughes' death. How about Ed and Al went to Risembool after lab 5 instead of Winry coming to Central? *nodding* Yeah, that sounds about right. Tell me if there are any holes in my logic!**

**Disclaimer: While I admit that being able to say, "I own Edward Elric" would be cool, I don't so I can't. :(**

**Random scene that has nothing to do with the plot but is still funny/awesome:**

_(Lyn's POV)_

I yawned and tried to wipe the sleep out of my eyes as I trudged down the stairs. What is it about being in the country that makes people get up at ridiculous hours?

I stepped groggily into the kitchen, only to be assaulted by a screeching sound coming from where Edward Elric sat.

"I REFUSE TO DRINK THAT GLASS OF COW EXCRETIONS! IT IS ABSOLUTELY VILE AND DISGUSTING THAT ANYONE FINDS THIS STUFF APPETIZING!"

"Now now, Ed, you have to drink your cow excretions or you'll stay short forever," I chided mockingly as I poured myself a glass of milk and sat down across from him.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE COULD LIVE IN A DOLLHOUSE AND CALL IT A MANSION!?"

Ignoring the fuming shorty, Winry smiled and handed me a plate already piled high with delicious food. I grinned happily at her and said, "Thanks Winry, I-" I paused mid-sentence as I noticed something on my plate.

"Lyn?" she asked, worried, "Are you okay?" Even Ed had quieted down to see what was wrong.

"Are those eggs?" I questioned in a low voice, leaning back and away from the plate.

Ed was getting annoyed again. "Yeah, what about them?"

"Eggs are disgusting!" I declared. "They're basically the result of when a chicken gets its period! The chicken makes the egg, and if it's not fertilized, it gets pooped out and then people _eat it_!" I shuddered at the thought. "It's completely nasty!"

Now it was Ed's turn to smirk mockingly. "Now now, Lyn, these 'chicken periods' are good for your hair," he said, referring to the fact that I hadn't brushed my hair before walking to the kitchen, and it was sticking out at odd and seemingly impossible angles.

Growling, I lunged at the blond midget. "I'LL KILL YOU!"

**A/N: Now, on with the real story!**

* * *

_(Unknown POV)_

"Is everything ready?"

The homunculus grinned at the shadowed figure in front of him. "Of course! What, did you doubt me, Master?" he asked cockily.

The figure just glared. "Finish the preparations and go, Envy. And take your new sister with you. She needs to watch one of you in action."

As he turned to leave the room, Envy let the shit-eating grin that he had been containing take over his face. 'This will be so much fun!' the shape-shifter thought with sadistic glee.

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

"I don't get it Brother. How could she have ears and a tail?" Al asked from the bedroom he shared with Ed.

"I don't understand either, Al. I mean, the only explanation I can think of is that she's a chimera, but there's no such thing as a human chimera. Even Tucker...," he paused sadly at that point, "Even Tucker's chimeras couldn't retain much of their human minds." Ed thought some more. "And even if she were a chimera," he continued, "the scientists who created her wouldn't have let her out of the lab; she'd be too valuable." He sounded like the thought sickened him.

"But that leaves the question; how did she become the way she is?"

Neither had an answer for that.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I sighed from where I lay in the tree outside. You'd think the two 'prodigies' would be able to figure out the whole 'cat ears + tail + cat abilities = chimera = enhanced hearing' thing. If you're wondering why I was in a tree, let's just say that I had a newfound affinity for trees. And mice. And yarn.

My tail started swishing lazily back and forth.

I had been staying at the Rockbell's house for about three days, polishing automail and helping prepare meals (not much; I can't pour a glass of water without screwing something up) so I didn't feel like a free-loader, and I had quickly realized something crucial to my survival in this world: I had to get a haircut.

Most people probably don't realize this, but everyone is constantly pushing their hair behind their ears. I cannot begin to explain how annoying it is to try to push your hair out of your face and then realize that your ears _aren't there_.

After a couple of hours of being severely pissed off, I asked Granny Pinako to chop all my hair off. She had refused to do it because no one would be able to tell that I was a girl (it pissed me off when she said this because she also glanced pointedly at my... lack of assets). We argued for a few hours before Winry came up with a compromise for us; Granny would give me a pixie cut, but it had to one of the girlier versions of the hairstyle.

I had to hand it to Granny, the results were perfect. It was long enough to disguise my lack of normal ears while also hiding the real ones.

Back to the matter at hand, I was surprised that the brothers hadn't asked many more questions after that first day. I suspected that Granny Pinako had told them to lay off. At least until I was comfortable enough to answer.

I heard Winry call out that dinner was ready, so I hopped out of the tree (landing on my feet easily, of course) and sprinted to the house. Winry's and Granny's cooking was _delicious,_ even if I did help.

* * *

Granny had sent Ed, Al, and I to deliver a pie to one of their neighbors who had just had a child. Ed and Al seemed to know the family well, so I stayed back and let them visit; I'm not a very big people-person.

Soon enough, we were all walking back to the Rockbell's when I smelled something... not right. I was beginning to get the hang of my new abilities (there were several trees with long gouges in them from where I practiced with my claws) and I could easily tell that whatever it was, it only vaguely smelled human. More like someone had tried to make something smell human but hadn't quite gotten it right.

"Hey, Ed. Al. Stop for a second; something's not right." I warned.

The two stopped and looked back at me with questioning and slightly suspicious expressions. Well, Ed did anyway; you could never tell with Al.

"Very good, Kitty-cat," the source of the odd smell drawled condescendingly as he (it?) stepped out from behind a tree.

He had long, dark green hair that hung like a jester's hat from medieval times and was wearing a tight-fitting, black shirt that didn't cover his chest, gloves that didn't cover his hands, socks that didn't cover his feet, and... a man-skirt.

'Does everyone in this world wear weird and nonfunctional clothing?' I wondered.

"Envy." Ed looked thoroughly pissed off at just the sight of the newcomer. "What are you doing here!?" he growled threateningly.

The man (thing?) called Envy merely smirked, "No need to be so defensive, Pipsqueak! I'm only here to pick up a stray." Now he looked at me. "Well Kitty-cat? Are you going to come easily or are you going to make this difficult for yourself?" he asked mockingly.

I didn't like this 'Envy' or the way he was talking to me. I unsheathed me claws. 'I'll show him a Kitty-cat,' I swore.

Envy clicked his tongue at me. "Tsk, tsk, Kitty-cat. You shouldn't be so aggressive. And here I am trying to reunite you with an old friend!"

"I hope you aren't referring to me," a cool voice interjected from the shadows beyond even my heightened sense of sight.

Envy grinned in the direction of the speaker. "Who else would I be speaking about?" If possible, his smirk grew even larger. "You've been unusually quiet; I had almost forgotten you were there, Betrayal."

A figure stepped out from the shadows to stand beside Envy. It appeared to be a teenage girl with straight, raven-black hair that hung almost to her waist. She was wearing a tight, dark purple v-necked shirt and some black leggings that ended just below her knees. The girl was tall and willowy and would have been very pretty if not for her cold expression and inhumanly glowing purple eyes.

Even with the change of eye color, I recognized her immediately. I was surprised that I hadn't known the moment she had spoken.

"Nadia?"

**A/N: Mwa ha ha ha! :D Aren't I evil to leave you with a cliffy like that? And now I'll be off to the beach where I'll have ****_absolutely no chance of updating_****. Maybe if you guys review, I'll update soon after I get back.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello all! Miss me? Of course you did! Stop being sarcastic! Anyways, this chapter is a little shorter than the rest (I think) but it has a fight scene (kinda) and some actual (*le gasp*) ****_PLOT_**** occurs. Now, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: If you think I own FMA, you should not be trusted with the gift of internet. That's right; I went there.**

_(Lyn's POV)_

"Nadia?" I asked, barely daring to hope that it could be her.

"Who? Nadia, Nadia... Hmm," Envy said with a fake thoughtful expression, "Nope! Never heard of her!" He turned to the girl who looked like Nadia but... wasn't... and asked, "Do you know anyone named Nadia, Betrayal?"

Nadia... 'No,' Lyn reminded herself, 'This isn't her!'

Betrayal replied calmly with a hint of mocking in her voice, "Perhaps she is thinking of the girl whose body I am currently borrowing?"

I couldn't stand it! "Borrowing her body!? That's impossible! Who are you really?" I exploded. I was surprised that I had gotten angry so quickly, but their words pissed me off! That isn't something to joke about!

"Impossible?" Envy clicked his tongue at me, "You should know better than that by now; just in this past week, you've seen and done things far more impossible. Tell me Kitty-cat, what was your price to cross the Gate?"

"Cross the Gate...?" I heard Ed murmur from behind me.

Ignoring Ed, the girl called Betrayal joined in, "And what about those ears of yours?" she asked, "Aren't human chimeras impossible as well? Compared to everything else that has been going on, this should be easy to accept. Now come, Lyncasia, you are coming with us."

"Hold it!" Ed yelled, clapping his hands together and transforming his automail arm into a huge blade.

'_Alchemy_,' I thought in wonder. It was one thing to know about the existence of alchemy from my trip through the Gate, but quite another to actually see it being used. It was beautiful.

"I don't know why you want her, and I think she's gonna have a lot of explaining to do when this is all over, but I'm not going to just stand by and let you take Lyn away!" Ed exclaimed before charging head-on at Envy, followed closely by Al.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw something rush at me and instinctively raised my clawed hand to block as Betrayal attempted to slash at my face with a long, curved dagger. My claws must have been incredibly strong, because the blade left barely a dent in them as Betrayal leapt back and pulled out a second dagger, identical to the first.

Instincts might have saved me the first time, but I knew that whoever this was had far more training in battle than I did. "Who are you?" I asked, stalling for time.

The girl smirked knowingly, like she had figured out my strategy but was going to humor me. "I am Betrayal," she said simply before darting forward in a blur and pointing the wickedly sharp point of a dagger right above my heart. "I'm a homunculus. I have an orobouros tattoo on the back of both of my hands. Do you want to know why?" She smiled cruelly at me and pushed the dagger closer to my frantically beating heart, causing a small trickle of blood to slither down the front of my shirt.

I was frozen. My mind was screaming at me to jump back, but I couldn't even twitch a finger. A few feet away, I could hear the sounds of fighting and Ed yelling at me to move, yet I stayed still, petrified.

She leaned forward, as if sharing a secret, and whispered, "It's so that when you look down to see the blade that has been plunged into your chest, your last thoughts will be about how I've double-crossed you."

* * *

_(Ed's POV)_

Ed glanced away from Envy for a moment to check on Lyn's fight, only to see her standing still with the unknown homunculus, Betrayal, pressing a blade to her heart. "Lyn! Move!" he shouted in a vain attempt to help before Envy was once again coming at him with a roundhouse kick aimed at his face.

"You shouldn't look away from your opponent, pipsqueak!" Envy shouted gleefully as he launched another series of punches in Ed's direction. Suddenly, Al launched himself at the homunculus in a flying kick which Envy dodged, but the distraction gave Ed enough time to glance over at Lyn to assure himself of her safety.

He turned just in time to see Betrayal slash at Lyn's chest, creating a deep, horizontal gash that immediately overflowed with blood as she fell in a heap onto the ground.

"LYN!" he and Al shouted in unison as they abandoned their battle with Envy to rush to the fallen girl's side.

The girl didn't respond as Ed frantically tried to staunch the flow of blood.

"Envy," Betrayal stated emotionlessly to her older brother, "We're done here."

"Yes, I know," Envy looked at the brothers who didn't seem to notice him in their worry over the chimera girl, "Ya know, pipsqueak, if you don't get her some help soon, she'll die."

"And wouldn't that be a tragedy," Betrayal added, smirking slightly.

As one, the homunculi turned and, in a movement that was only a blur to the humans present, sprinted into the forest.

* * *

_(Winry's POV)_

Winry gasped when Al burst into the house carrying an unconcious and bleeding Lyn, followed closely by Ed. _'It looks so much like that night from four years ago..._' she thought before briskly shaking her head. She had to focus.

"Al, get the medical kit; she'll need some serious stitches. Ed, come hold her down; this is gonna hurt. Granny!" she called through the house, "I'll need some help with the stitching!"

With her face set in an expression of grim determination, Winry got to work.

**A/N: So, how did I do? This was my first even halfway fight scene, so tell me if I royally screwed something up, okay? Now review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hiya everybody! Happy Turkeyday! Glad to see me? WHO'RE YOU CALLING SUCH A BAD AUTHORESS THAT A ROCK COULD UPDATE FASTER THAN HER!? Hmpf. I have a very good reason for not updating quickly; this chapter was a b**** to write! Anywho, there isn't much action in this chapter, but maybe now the actual ****_plot_**** can take place! One can hope!**

**Disclaimer: Yep. I own FMA. And I'm the Queen of Sheba too.**

_(Lyn's POV)_

I groaned as I gradually regained conciousness. 'Why do I always wake up feeling like absolute shit?' I wondered. The memories of what happened slowly trickled into my fuzzed-up head. 'Oh yeah.' Taking a mental inventory, I realized that I was in a bed and had a thick layer of bandages around my chest and stomach area.

For a second, I wondered if perhaps I had died but immediately dismissed the idea. 'There's no way heaven sucks this much,' I reasoned. I mean, _seriously_. Who knew the whole 'getting stabbed in the chest' thing would _hurt_ so much? Damn. You'd think the whole idea would be traumatizing, but it already seemed like a dream. It was like I had been watching a movie where I was the main character, and in one scene, I got stabbed. It sucked, but I wasn't having a mental breakdown.

I tried to sit up, but was firmly pushed back down again by someone. "Oh no you don't! You'll reopen your wound!" I wearily opened my eyes and saw Winry standing over me with a wrench. My eyes widened and I quickly stopped trying to get up; I wasn't suicidal.

"How long have I been out?" I asked when she finally lowered the metal torture device.

She looked at me with a grim expression. "Four days."

"WHAT!?"

She held her expression for a few more moments before a grin escaped. It quickly evolved into laughter. "Oh my gosh, you should have seen your face! That was awesome..."

I stared at her in shock. "Winry! That's not funny!" I said, but then I was grinning in spite of myself, "How long was I really out?"

She calmed down a little before answering, "It's only been about a day." After she said that, she seemed to remember something, "Oh, Ed and Al said that when you woke up, they had some questions for y-" But she was interrupted by Ed crashing through the door, looking for all the world like someone had set him on fire with his golden hair and bright red coat.

"Alright, I didn't ask before because Granny told me not to, but now it's time for you to answer some questions. No lies. Who are you, and where are you from?" he demanded.

I sighed. "You should get Al and Granny in here too before I answer that."

_***convenient time-skip***_

Once everyone had taken seats around me, I began my story. "I'll tell you guys everything, but please don't ask too many questions until I'm done." As they nodded their consent, I tried to gather my muddled thoughts. Finally, I took a breath and began, "First of all, you guys should know that I'm not... from here."

"From Amestris?" Winry asked.

"No," I answered, "From this world." I ignored the astonished, skeptical, and disbelieving stares and continued. "Where I'm from, alchemy isn't... practiced. It's believed to be a child's tale, and as far as I know, it shouldn't be possible." Ed looked shocked and slightly offended by that statement, so I continued quickly. "I was looking for a book about chemistry -my world's version of alchemy- when I found an old book about alchemy. I accidentally touched a circle-"

Ed cut me off. "How could you just activate an unknown transmutation circle!? That's incredibly dangerous!" Jeez, he sounded like my _mom_. Ew, no. Bad mental image. Get back on topic.

"Brother!" Al scolded, even though he looked just as disapproving as the older Elric.

I waved my hand at him, "It's fine Al." I turned back to Ed and answered, "Well, it's not like people would go around warning you, 'Don't touch strange alchemical symbols, kiddies!'. How was I supposed to know? I'm only h-," I stopped myself before I could finish.

Suddenly, the reality of my situation came crashing in around me. I was in a different _dimension_. I wasn't _human_. Oh, _shit_. Oh my _god_.

Desperately trying to recover from my epiphany/mini-mental breakdown, I struggled to get my brain cells to stop running around like sugar-high, spastic rabbits enough to form a coherent thought.

* * *

_(Ed's POV)_

"I'm only h-,"

Ed grew slightly worried as Lyn froze in the middle of the word 'human'. Of course, he had had his suspicions about the girl's chimera-like features, but hearing them all but confirmed out loud made him uneasy. Everything about her story sent foreboding chills of apprehension down his spine.

"When I touched the circle, blue lightning flared up -which I'm assuming is normal, but then it changed into this blackish red color." Her story was starting to sound eerily familiar. "A huge eye opened on the page and these little hands pulled me through, but when they did, I passed out."

Lyn's eyes grew glassy and gained a faraway look as she continued, "The next thing I knew, I was in this... blank world."

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I was getting wrapped up in the memory, and I didn't notice Ed's agitation as my story progressed. "There was a being there that called itself-,"

"Truth?" Ed guessed dispassionately. As I nodded, I saw Al giving Ed a look that said, 'We'll talk about this later.' **(A/N: Remember, this is before they go to Dublith, so Al still doesn't know about the Gate)** After a moment, Ed asked, "What did you exchange?"

I thought about it for a moment. "It said I wasn't suited for alchemy, so it couldn't take 'the usual toll' from me. From what I understand, it took away the things that were most important to me: my friends, my family, my world, et cetera. In exchange, I got a new world and basic knowledge of the world, and I was turned into a chimera. I guess the chimera part was part of the whole 'taking away your humanity' thing. Oh, and I safely crossed the Gate to this dimension."

Al, having decided to ignored the parts that made no sense for the moment, asked, "So, you're a chimera? What kind? And what's it like?"

I shook my head to clear it of thoughts about the Gate. "Yes, I was mixed with a lynx," I answered, pulling off my hat at the same time, "So far, I know I have ears, a tail, claws, and enhanced senses. That's how I knew Envy was about to attack us."

They seemed to mull this over in their heads for a moment. Then Ed asked a question that not even I had thought to ask myself. "Did you see what kind of transmutation circle it was?" he inquired thoughtfully.

I racked my brain for an answer to his question. "Hmm... Oh! At the top of the page, it said something... 'Human' something. Human... That's right! It said 'Human Transmutation'!"

_***later that night***_

I was in a dark place. It seemed almost like Truth's domain, but instead of white, the entire world was pitch black. Suddenly, I noticed Nadia standing in front of me. Had she always been there?

"Nadia! I was worried you were gone forever!" I said with relief and excitement.

My best friend only looked at me with unfathomably sad eyes. "Why, Lyn? Why weren't you strong enough? Why couldn't you save me?" she asked in a mournful voice. Hearing her speak in such a hopeless tone made me want to cry.

As I watched, her dark blue eyes morphed into an inhuman shade of purple. In a voice that seemed like a mix of Envy and Betrayal, the girl in front of me asked tauntingly, "Yes Kitty-cat, why couldn't you save me?"

* * *

I woke up from my nightmare in a cold-sweat, sitting bolt upright in the spare bedroom I had been occupying. Gasping for breath, I thought dazedly that it was much too hot in the room, so I naturally got out of bed and tip-toed out of the house, ignoring the shocking stab of protest from my side.

I sat on the porch staring at the stars. Even in my small hometown, the stars had never been as bright as the ones in Risembool. They were breathtaking.

"They're pretty, aren't they?" a voice from behind me asked.

Startled, I quickly turned to see Ed leaning against the doorway, having just walked out of the house.

"What are you doing up?" I asked, as it was the only question that came to mind.

Smirking slightly, Ed sat down next to me, saying, "I'll tell you if you tell me."

"Sure," I replied easily, "I had a nightmare. About Betrayal," I added.

Ed laughed humorlessly. "That makes two of us. Except mine wasn't about Betrayal..."

I suddenly thought of something. "Ed, how did you get your automail?"

Ed remained silent for a long time. I had just begun to think he wouldn't answer when he spoke, "I'm sorry for getting mad at you this afternoon. It's just... The mistake you made, you didn't know the consequences. But Al and I... We did." And with that said, he began his tale.

_***Ed's and Al's story***_

"Wow," I said. There was nothing else to say.

"You pity us, don't you?" Ed asked, looking dejectedly at the ground.

"No," I told him, and he looked up, surprised. "I'll give you empathy and as much sympathy as I can, but not pity. My grandma used to tell me that you should only pity the pitiful. You and Al are some of the least pitiful people I've ever met."

We sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Ed decided to break it. "Lyn, are you sure you want to travel with us?"

I thought back to our conversation from earlier.

_"I want to train with you guys," I had told the Elrics determinedly._

_Winry had been shocked, "But Lyn, why can't you just stay here?"_

_I shook my head sadly. "When Betrayal attacked me, the only reason I survived is because of my instincts and the fact that she was holding back. Next time I meet her, I want to be on even ground. Plus, I can never repay you for your kindness in letting me stay here this long. I shouldn't impose on you any more than I already have." Winry appeared saddened, but Granny looked like she understood. I looked between the Elrics, waiting for their answer._

_Ed and Al turned towards each other and seemed to communicate silently. Finally, they both nodded. Ed turned towards me and said, "If the homunculi are after you, we can't just leave you here. If you want, you can travel with us and maybe learn some fighting techniques on the way."_

"Yeah," I told him, "I need to be stronger, and I have to find out what happened to Nadia. Even if it kills me, I have to find Betrayal and get some answers from her."

**A/N: So as I was saying, the actual plot will begin in the next chapter! And Mustang will be in the next chappy! Anyone have any ideas on how Colonel Pyro and co. will react to Lyn? And what about Armstrong and Hughes? Review to tell me!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Yo! What's up peeps? So anyways, because this story is going to be a vague mix of FMA and FMA:B, I don't know who the baddie should be. A reviewer already asked it not to be *censored* (Sorry I have a reader/friend who hasn't seen who the baddie in FMA is!) and I don't think I can write Father very well. So your options are: I can ignore the reviewer and choose *censored*, attempt Father and have it most likely turn out OOC, let one of the homunculi be the leader (it can't be Envy or Betrayal), or make up a completely new evil mastermind. If you choose the new person, what do you want them to be like? Oh, and do you guys want EdxLyn or some other pairing? Or no pairings?**

**Disclaimer: READ THE DISCLAIMER! (Wow, inception much?) xD**

_If you skipped the A/N, go back and read it; it's important this time._ Ed walked into the kitchen, only to be greeted by the _wonderful_ (remember kiddies; sarcasm is your friend!) sight of Lyn sitting at the table with her shirt lifted halfway up, poking at her still-healing bruises.

It had been a little more than a month, and the chimera girl's wound had mostly healed, except for a myriad of... interestingly colored bruises that Lyn seemed to enjoy poking.

Glancing up at him, Lyn grinned and chimed happily, "Look Ed! I'm a rainbow! Ow!" She whined as she poked a particularly sore spot, her ears flattening against her head.

Winry flicked the girl's forehead as she set down a plate of food (minus eggs, of course) in front of her. "Lyn!" she scolded, "You'll never heal if you keep doing that!"

"Yeah, and then I'll have to get even more time off from work!" Ed added. " 's not like I care about missing work, but it's been hard enough keeping Mustang off my back for this long. That bastard can be a pain in the ass when he wants to be."

"Aw, does _little_ Eddie miss his superior officer?" she taunted.

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT HE CAN'T EVEN PET A DOG WITHOUT A STEP-LADDER, FURBALL!?"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLIN' A FURBALL, MIDGET!?"

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

"SHUT THE HELL UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Winry screeched, hitting us both on the head with dual wrenches. As we were rubbing our abused heads, Winry thought of something. "Hey Lyn, you don't have any clothes here other than the ones I lent you, do you?"

Massaging my poor ear, I replied, "Nope, they're all on the other side of the Gate, except the ones I was wearing when I got here." I grinned when I realized what she was thinking.

"Shopping trip!" we yelled excitedly at the same time.

* * *

**_*convenient time-skip*_**

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

Ed groaned as Winry handed him yet another bag to carry. "Why did I say you could use my money?"

"Because you couldn't say no to the 'help the poor girl who needs clothes' speech, and the military gives you a ton of money for research anyway," Al supplied, hidden behind the even larger pile of bags he was being forced to carry. He didn't mind though; he was glad he could help.

Suddenly, Lyn came out of the changing room wearing her newest outfit.

She had on a plain, gray shirt which was topped by a calm, forest green jacket that stopped at her midriff. Along with that, she was also wearing black pants that flared out around a pair of distinctly non-girly combat boots. Instead of the old baseball cap Granny had given her to cover her ears in public, she had on a black fedora with a small, slightly-poofy flower attached to the side.

"Wow, Lyn! You look amazing!" Al exclaimed from behind the mountain of clothes. He could only barely see her over it, but those clothes really did suit her.

"You think so?" Lyn asked, nervously pulling on the hem of the shirt.

"Of course!" Winry exclaimed, jabbing Ed, who had been gaping at Lyn, viciously in the side.

Lyn turned to the short blond. "Ed?"

"Y-you uh... You look fine," he mumbled, looking away.

Before the chimera girl could answer, Winry shoved several other outfits in her arms, telling her to go try them on.

* * *

**_*another time-skip!*_**

_(Lyn's POV)_

When we eventually trudged home, Winry was grinning triumphantly, Al was happily reading his newest book about cats, Ed was grumbling about girls and shopping, and I was cheerfully swinging my bag of clothes back and forth.

Since none of the other outfits had suited me as well as the first one, we had gotten three sets of the same thing with one exception: the jackets were different colors. After much debate (*cough* arguing *cough*) and a few wrenches to the head, we had decided on the forest green one, an alchemic-lightning blue one, and a midnight black one. I was just glad to have my own clothes.

Upon entering the house, I twirled around happily. I couldn't believe that the next day, I would be traveling and training with the Elrics. Of course, we would have to stop in Central to check in with Ed's boss. 'I wonder why Ed calls him Colonel Bastard?' I thought to myself, 'If he's in the military, he should be calm and level-headed, right?'

* * *

_***the next day***_

"Bye guys!" Winry called to Ed and Al as we left the house. "Lyn, don't let these two idiots get into too much trouble! And make sure Ed doesn't break my babies!"

I smiled and called back to her, "Don't worry, Winry! If he gets a single scratch on his automail, I'll claw 'im!"

"Who's side are you on!?" Ed huffed indignantly.

"The one where I don't get a wrench chucked at my head." I grinned and thought back to the goodbyes earlier that morning.

Winry had pulled me into a bear-hug, which had shocked me at first; I'd known her for, what, a month? When I got over my confusion and hugged her back, she'd said, "Don't get hurt, okay Lyn? You're like a sister now."

* * *

_***on the train***_

When we found an empty booth on the train, Ed and I sat on one bench, facing Al, whose armor took up most of the room on the other side.

Once we had settled down, Al turned to me and said, "Hey Lyn. I've been meaning to ask you; what's your world like?"

I thought carefully about what I would say before I answered. "Well, we don't have alchemy, so our technology developed faster than yours. We have vehicles that can fly and some that take you underwater. We have these machines that let you communicate with people all over the world, and mobile phones that you don't have to connect to anything in order to talk to someone."

I watched them soak in the new information before I grinned and asked, "Either of you know any good card games?"

* * *

_***look! Another time-skip!***_

After an hour and many games of lost poker for Al and I, I challenged Ed to a new game.

"Rock-paper-scissors!?" he asked incredulously. "You can't be serious! That's not even a game of skill!"

I smirked. "Wanna bet on that? If I win three games in a row, you have to change your cloak pink for a day. If I lose any of them, I'll let you use alchemy to turn my hair bright pink for a week."

Weighing his options, Ed finally nodded his consent. "Deal. We go on 'shoot'."

"Sure. Al, you referee to make sure neither of us cheats."

Ed and I chanted together, "Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!" He threw scissors. I threw rock.

"Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!" He did rock. So did I. "Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!" I threw rock again. He did scissors.

Ed was starting to get nervous. One more loss and he'd be done for. Then he seemed to realize something. I grinned evilly; this game was as good as mine.

"Rock-paper-scissors, shoot!" Ed did paper, expecting me to once again use rock.

I used scissors. I smirked victoriously.

"Grah! Damnit!"

* * *

_***at Colonel Bastard's office***_

_(Mustang's POV)_

Colonel Mustang looked up from the paperwork Hawkeye had given him when he saw a flash of gold and pink walk into his office. "Ah, Major Armstrong, what can I do for y-" he was cut short as he realized that the person was most definitely _not_ Alex Louis Armstrong. "Gone over to the darkside have you, Fullmetal?" he asked, smirking at his youngest subordinate.

"Not another word, Colonel Bastard, or I'll tell Hawkeye that you threatened to set Black Hayate on fire."

"Yes, I suppose I should be the _bigger_ man about this."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A PINK FAIRY THAT PEOPLE KEEP TRYING TO HIT WITH FLY-SWATTERS, BASTARD!?"

Ignoring the raging prodigy in front of him, Mustang noticed that there was a girl he'd never seen before standing next to Al, trying very hard not to laugh.

"And who might you be?" he asked. The boys had mentioned staying in Risembool to help a friend recover, but they hadn't told him anything about bringing said friend with them to Central.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I tried to wipe the smirk off my face when Colonel Mustang addressed me, I really did, but I don't think it worked. "I'm Lyn. If you want to know why Ed is currently the Fullmetal Fairy, let's just say he lost a bet," I told him, widening my smirk into one that rivaled his own.

"Traitor," Ed muttered, glaring at me. I ignored him.

"Oh? And what kind of bet would that be? I was going to ask you some other questions, but this seems to be the more pressing matter."

Heh. I was starting to like this Colonel Bastard. "Rock-paper-scissors, sir," I answered, adding a hint of sarcasm to the word 'sir'.

His smirk only grew wider. "Let me get this straight, Fullmetal. You, the Hero of the People and alchemic prodigy, not only lost a child's game to a girl, but also lost a bet, the terms of which stated you had to dye your cloak pink?"

Before Ed could retort, a blonde woman with a gun trained on Mustang walked into the room, asking, "Is there anything _wrong_ with losing to a female, Colonel?"

"Of course not, Lieutenant!" he replied hastily, glancing warily at the pistol in her hands.

"I hope, for your sake, that you've been doing your paperwork, sir," she warned him before holstering her gun and looking at the teens in the room. "Your name is Lyn, correct?" she asked me.

I nodded nervously. "Y-yes ma'am."

She smiled reassuringly at me. "Would you please tell us why you are travelling with these boys?"

I could tell it wasn't a question. It was a nicely phrased order. "S-sure."

**A/N: Heehee. I love Mustang. He's just such a fun character to write! Sorry about all the linebreaks by the way; I'll change them if anyone finds them too confusing! But make sure you review to answer my questions from the top A/N! It won't be a vote, but I seriously want your input on this! So please, please, ****_please_**** review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: NONE OF YOU FREAKING ANSWERED MY QUESTIONS! Well except for elysenjazz. She gets an extra special cookie for being amazing. BUT YOU ALL BETTER ANSWER ME THIS TIME, DAMNIT! *trying to calm down* Ok, the question is: who should the baddie be? Go back to the A/N in the last chapter for more details. Oh, and it won't be EdxLyn because pairing the OC with Ed is way too over used. So it'll just be a brother/sister relationship unless someone really ****_really_**** wants some romance.**

**Disclaimer: I asked Truth for the rights to FMA again, but it wanted my computer this time! So I did what any respectable citizen of the internet would do and told it, "Hell to the no."**

_(Betrayal and Envy's POV)_

Betrayal bowed slightly at the person in front of her. "The mission was successful, Master."

The hooded figure glanced apathetically at the two homunculi before it. "Good. See to it that nothing interferes with the current arrangements."

Envy glared defiantly at the shadow he called 'Master'. "What was the purpose of our mission anyway? I've seen no affects other than slowing the brothers down. Why go to all the trouble?"

"Because, Envy," the figure told him in the tone one uses when teaching an unruly child, "chimera or not, the girl has seen the Truth. She's a perfect candidate for sacrifice; we need to protect out sacrifices, don't we? And what better place for her than with the Elrics?"

Envy hated that condescending voice. Without another word, he turned and stormed out of the room. After checking for the Master's small nod of permission, Betrayal followed. "Why do you insist on following me!?" Envy snapped at her in annoyance.

The homunculus girl considered it for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe because envy is at the heart of all betrayals?"

Envy glared at her. "If that was some poetic crap that translates into 'I love you', I'm going to toss you out the nearest window, pick up your mangled corpse as you regenerate, and feed the bloody pieces to Gluttony." Betrayal just smirked. "Anyway, why are you still using that body? Its part in this is over now."

The traitorous girl merely glanced at him. "Finding a suitable new host is bothersome; people rarely make strong enough bonds for me to use. Besides, I've grown used to it and it seems to bother the chimera girl. Maybe this form will come in handy."

Envy thought on what she had said about finding a new host. "What about the Elrics?" he asked.

"Homunculi can't do alchemy," she answered before turning and disappearing into the darkness.

* * *

_(Mustang's POV)_

"Well Fullmetal, I can't exactly say I believe everything you three have said, afterall, human chimeras and alternate dimensions aren't exactly the kinds of things you expect to find out about, but if the homunculi are after this girl, I think her travelling with you is an excellent idea. You still have missions to complete, however." Smirking, he put his elbows on the desk in front of him and rested his chin on his clasped hands, "Do try not to die."

Ed muttered, "Shut it, Bastard," but he was glad that Lyn could travel with them.

Standing up, Al said, "Thanks for listening to us, Colonel!" Everyone could tell he would be beaming if he wasn't stuck in that suit of armor. It saddened the group that such a sweet boy had been deprived of so much.

Mustang hummed in acknowledgement. "Just make sure no one in the military sees your ears, Lyn. That would just give me even more paperwork."

Lyn grinned as she followed the Elrics into the outer office. "I will! See ya Colonel Bastard!"

A tick mark formed on Mustang's forehead. "I don't like her," he huffed.

"Sir, if I may say something?" the sole other occupant in the room asked.

"Yes, Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

"You're smiling."

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I was still grinning as we entered the outer office. As I closed the door, a blond man with a cigarette poking out of his mouth greeted Ed and Al. "Hey Al! Haven't seen you in a while! And what's up E-" the man was suddenly cut off as he choked on laughter. "W-what are you w-wearing!?"

Ed thwacked him on the head, growling. "Ask her," he told him, jerking his thumb in my direction.

The man straightened when he saw me. "Oh hey! Sorry for ignoring you! I'm Jean Havoc," he held his hand out and I shook it.

Moments later, I was introduced to Fuery (a slightly timid tech guy with black hair like Mustang's), Breda (a large man with red, poofy hair), and Falman (a tall, strong-and-silent-type man whose hair reminded me vaguely of a skunk).

Havoc leaned over conspiratorially and stage whispered, "So how come you're travelling with the Elrics? Did Ed finally get a girlfriend?"

I smirked at him. "He wishes."

Breda put his hand to his chest in mock horror. "You mean you aren't even dating yet and you're already changing his wardrobe!"

Fuery, Havoc, Falman, and even Al snickered slightly.

I was going to reply, but then a man I'd never seen before burst into the room. He was a fairly tall man with short, spikey black hair with one strand that hung in front of his square-shaped glasses. His eyes were an odd yellowish-green, but he was grinning like an idiot as he waltzed in. The grin widened when he saw Ed's pink-ness, he but didn't comment.

Alphonse seemed happy to see the man. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes! It's been a while!"

"Hey, if it isn't the Elric brothers! Glad to see you all back in one piece! You know, Elysia has really missed you two since you've been gone! Hey, do you guys want to see my newest pic-"

Ed cut him off hastily, "No! I mean... I'd like you to meet Lyn, our new travelling companion!" He grabbed me and used me as a human shield between himself and the strange man.

"Lyn, huh?" For a moment, I could have sworn his eyes turned cold and calculating, but in the next moment he was back to his smiling self, leaving me to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing. "Well you're just in time to see my newest pictures of my darling daughter, Elysia! Oh, and the ones of my beautiful wife, Gracia, too!"

I barely had time to process what he had said before he shoved a handful of pictures in my face. I glanced over at the others to see Al's and Havoc's sympathetic gazes. But what pissed me off was the fact that Ed was _laughing_. He must have planned it! That son of a b-

"This is Elysia! She's turning three tomorrow! Oh! You three should come wish her happy birthday; Gracia would love to see you all!"

Ed started to decline, but Al interrupted, "Of course, Mister Hughes! We'd love to!"

The man ignored Ed's protests and exclaimed, "Great! I'll see you guys tomorrow at my house!" And with that, he headed into Mustang's office to talk to (torture) him, leaving the office in a sort of stunned silence as usual.

"Well," I said, breaking the silence, "What do you get a three-year-old girl for her birthday?"

**A/N: Ok, I know there's not any plot here, but it's setting up and explaining some seriously important stuff here. So it's all good. NOW REVIEW DAMNIT! *growling***


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Alright, I'm only gonna say this once: THIS IS AN OMAKE AND IN THE NEXT CHAPTER I WILL ACT AS IF THIS NEVER HAPPENED. Because this is just a small Christmas extra, it will probably be a lot more crackish than the rest of the story. Ye be warned.**

**Disclaimer: Trust me, you should be ****_very_**** glad I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist.**

I squealed ecstatically (but also quietly; Ed was still sleeping) as I sprinted out of my bedroom in Ed and Al's dorm. It was finally Christmas! Finally! All of the blood (unfortunate accident while wrapping presents), sweat (running from an enraged shopaholic after I stole the last sweater), and tears ("But you _can't _be out of canycanes, mister! You just can't!") would finally be worth it! I sped into the kitchen and began whipping up a proper holiday breakfast while chatting happily with Al.

Ed woke up to the sound of Lyn's cheery singing from somewhere in the apartment. He recognised the tune, but the words seemed wrong somehow... As he rubbed his bleary eyes and sat up stretching with a groan, his ears finally began to decipher the words.

"Deck the halls with gasoline! Fa-lalalala-lala-lala! Light a match and see what happens! Fa-lalalala-lala-lala! Now your school is burned to ashes! Fa-lala-lalala-lalala! Aren't you glad you played with matches? Fa-lalalala-lalalala!"

Ed snorted and got up to find the source of the slightly demented singing. "It's a bit early," he said as he walked into the kitchen, "to be plotting the destruction of public property, isn't it Furball? Especially on Christmas morning; aren't you supposed to be being _good_?"

Lyn smirked, ears flicking. "That's only for the rest of the year, _shorty_. Today's pretty much a free pass for everything."

But Ed didn't hear her. He was too busy staring at the food she had prepared. More specifically, the bacon. "Lyn... What is that?"

"Bacon," she replied, "Obviously."

"Yes, but why is it... circular?" He was right; all the bacon strips were cooked into little wheels that rolled around on the plate.

Lyn shrugged. "I thought it would be cool," she told him as she stacked some bacon wheels into a mini-bacon-tower. Then she pretended to be a giant monster and made giant monster noises as she bit down on her bacon-y building. "Rawr!"

"You should have seen it, Brother!" Al exclaimed from where he was sitting. "It was so cool! She-"

"Nah ah ah!" Lyn interrupted as she swallowed the last of her tower. "Present time!" She then raced to the living room where a small tree had been overflowed with brightly wrapped gifts.

Lyn made Al unwrap his presents first because, as she explained to a pouting Edward, if you opened them at the same time, you don't get to ooh and aah together.

After opening all their presents, the highlights of which were Mustang's gift to Ed (a bottle of milk), Ed's gift to Lyn (flea spray), and Lyn's gift to Al (a book titled, "What To Do When Everyone You Know Has Gone Crazy"), the trio sat down in front of the fireplace and listened as Al told the story of Christmas. Then both Ed and Lyn declared it total bullcrap. For completely different reasons.

"There's no way a god could exist!" Ed exclaimed, "The only thing that governs our universe in the Law of Equivalent Exchange!"

"Screw that!" Lyn told the Elrics. "That wasn't how it _really_ happened!"

Al was confused. "Did you have another story on the other side of the Gate?"

Lyn snorted. "Of course!" And she began to tell her story (though she was really just making it up as she went along). "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, some dude with a funny beard met a chick with a really funny hairstyle. The dude was like, 'Let's get married,' but the girl told him they couldn't get married because she was really an alien from a planet called Canada. The dude was sad, so he wandered the world for a few years thinking about stuff. But sometimes he was so busy thinking that he tripped over stuff. One day, after he tripped over a penguin, he figured out what he had to do. He ran to find the lady and when he did, he threw an egg in her face. And that's why I don't like eggs," she finished before taking a huge breath of air.

"Wha... But... Weren't you telling us about the first Christmas?" Al stammered after recovering from the utter insanity of her story.

Lyn stared at him blankly.

Al sighed. "Nevermind," he said before he began to read the book Lyn had given him.

Ed was still staring at her, dumbfounded by everything that had just transpired.

**A/N: Sorry for this being so short! *dodges as Ed attempts to tackle me* But it's an omake; it has to be short! *dodges another or Ed's flying tackles* Before you ask, yes the story Al told was the one about Jesus and Christianity. And sorry if the Canada comment hurt anyone's feelings; it was just the first country I thought of. :3 And about the circular bacon thing: it's possible. I've done it and it is freaking ****_amazing_****. The next chapter will be serious(ish), I promise!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Woot! Another chapter! Who's awesome? Me. This chapter is on the more serious side. There's some jokes every now and then because I can't help myself, but it's not one of the humor chapters. Oh, and I've decided on the villan, but I can't tell you guys because that would ruin the surprise factor!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned FMA/FMA:B, Hughes wouldn't have died! TT~TT**

_(Lyn's POV)_

Elysia's party was a lot better than I expected it to be. Miss Gracia made the best cake ever and when Elysia blew out the candles, she announced that she wished for a pony. No one had the heart to tell her she wasn't supposed to say it out loud. Ed and Al gave her a small, ornate hairbrush and mirror set that they had used alchemy to make, but I had something different in mind for a present. I told her stories: all the Dr. Suess books and fairy tales I could think of. And I had once written a report on the Brothers Grimm. I knew _a lot _of fairy tales.

"-and you know what? The shoe fit! So the prince took Cinderella back to the castle and they got married and lived happily ever after," I finished.

Elysia and her friends stared up at me with awed expressions. "How come you make up such good stories, Big Sis?" Elysia asked innocently.

I smiled sadly at her. "My grandma used to tell me stories every night; that was one of her favorites."

The three-year-old tilted her head adorably. "Why are you sad, Big Sis? Do you miss your grandma?"

"Yeah, Elysia. I just haven't seen her in a while is all," I told her, smiling at her concerned pout.

Suddenly, Elysia said, "Wait!" and bolted up to her room. She quickly returned, this time holding something behind her back. "Here!" she said, holding the object out for me.

It turned out to be a beautifully crafted silver pendant on a blue-grey silk ribbon. The pendant was shaped like a graceful bird in flight with delicate lines and curls etched into its surface. It was gorgeous. The irony of its shape, however, did not escape me. "Elysia," I breathed in shock, "I can't accept this from you; it must be very important!"

The girl tiled her head in thought. "But your grandma is important to you too. I want you to have something nice while you can't see your grandma."

I smiled at Elysia's childish interpretation of Equivalent Exchange, the concept that all alchemists lived by. Before I could once again protest, Hughes interjected with a kind smile, "Go ahead, Lyn. That old thing has been sitting in the attic for years; I'm surprised Elysia even knew it was there!"

I watched him uncertainly as Elysia put the necklace in my hands. "Are you sure, Mister Hughes? I can't-"

"Of course you can! Trust me, it's fine," he told me reassuringly.

"If you're sure..." I trailed off. Seeing his determined nod, I hesitantly put on the necklace, feeling the cool silver of the pendant against my throat. I smiled brightly at Elysia, "Thank you!

A few hours later, the party had wound down and most of the children had left to go home. I had just finished explaining to Elysia that Ed was _not _Red Riding Hood and that Al _definitely_ was the knight in shining armor when the Elrics themselves walked up to me.

"Hey Furball, ready to start your training?" Ed asked, grinning.

I looked at the pair suspiciously. "What kind of training, Shorty?"

Al immediately clapped his leather hand over his brother's mouth and held him back from attacking me. "Just helping you get used to your new senses!" Al told me cheerfully over Ed's muffled shouts. "Being in a big city like Central has been hard on you right?"

That was an understatement. The smell of garbage and car exhaust had been making my eyes water, and all the hustle and bustle of the people made my ears hurt under my hat. The fur on my tail was bunched up and irritated from being stuffed in my clothes for so long, and my ears were suffocating under all my hair.

"Yeah, it has," I agreed, "but what kind of training do you mean?"

Ed, who had finally stopped thrashing against Al, answered. "Tomorrow, we're going to walk over here and meet up with Hughes. While you wait here, Al and I are going to wander around Central. After about half an hour, we'll stop and you'll come find us using your nose."

I looked at the brothers curiously. "What if I run into the homunculi?"

Ed looked sheepish and Al sounded apprehensive as he said, "About that-"

He was interrupted when Hughes popped up beside me and announced, "Hey Lyn! So it looks like I'll be showing you around Central while these two do research, huh?" He grinned and stage whispered, "Can't say I blame you; alchemy research is incredibly boring."

I blinked. Noticing Ed's 'just go with it and we'll explain later' look, I smiled at the man and agreed. "Thanks Mister Hughes!"

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

The Elrics walked into Colonel Mustang's office wearing matching serious expressions/auras. The blonde girl, Lyn, was noticeably absent from their group.

Ed cut right to the chase, turning to face the Flame Colonel. "Alright bastard, you were leaving something out while Lyn was here, so what was it?" he demanded.

Roy looked at the teen calmly. "What makes you think I was leaving something out, Fullmetal?"

Ed huffed. "You were treating her like a mix between one of your team and one of those 'dates' that you use as spies. Like she was a friend, but you were still just using her."

"You were gathering information," Al clarified.

Mustang smirked, pleased that the brothers had figured it out. "You're right. There is something about this that doesn't add up. She wasn't suited for alchemy, so this 'Gate' turned her into a chimera? A perfect chimera, I might add. And what about the fact that she just happened to find a book containing a working human transmutation circle in a world which doesn't know about alchemy?"

"And her friend turned into a homunculus. Or was possessed by one, at least," Ed added. "I know. I've been wondering about some of that too."

"Brother!" Al gasped, "You don't think Lyn lied about any of that, do you?"

Ed looked up solemnly at his brother. "I don't want to, but you have to agree; some of this is suspicious."

After a moment, Al admitted, "It's odd that the homunculi even found her in the first place."

The other two nodded. Then Mustang spoke up, "But the only thing we can do right now is either wait for her to let something slip or find out if the homunculi know anything." With that, he deemed the exchange over and switched topics. "So Fullmetal, where is Miss Lyn?" he asked conversationally.

Ed waved it off nonchalantly and flopped onto one of the black, leather couches. "Training."

Roy raised an eyebrow but didn't question the blond as Al perched next to his brother on the couch to wait.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

"So Mister Hughes," I began, "do you remember what Ed and Al were going to research today?"

Hughes grinned and looked down at me saying, "You're just trying to find out how much I know about this, aren't you?"

It wasn't really a question, but I still nodded. His expression became serious the way it had back in the office. "I know you were in an alchemy accident that somehow gave you enhanced senses. At the moment, you are training your sense of smell and I am here to make sure nothing bad happens to you."

Accepting the man's answer, I changed the topic. "Are you an alchemist too, Mister Hughes?"

Hughes seemed to choke, "_God_ no! I'm the only sane person around here; I swear all that knowledge of alchemy just shoves common sense out of their brains!"

I grinned at his antics. "You're telling me! Hey, what do you want to bet the guys went somewhere obvious like the library or Central Command?"

Hughes snorted. "My bet's on somewhere with food."

_***That night***_

Once again, I stood in a world that seemed like the opposite of the Truth's. There was nothing but black all around, but I could clearly see the woman standing in front of me. She had dirty blonde hair like mine, dyed to cover the grey it had become, and caring blue eyes surrounded by light wrinkles that gazed lovingly at me.

"Grandma..." I whispered in shock. I hadn't thought about my family much since coming to Amestris, but seeing her so vividly brought back a flood of emotions and memories. Awe. Grandma teaching me that stars were the spirits of our ancestors watching down on us. Protective. The time I found a bird with a broken wing, so she helped me take care of it while it healed. Comfort. Eating gingerbread cookies at her house while my parents were at work all day. Grief. Standing by the coffin as everyone said their goodbyes. Grandma said tears were wishes, so I held them back and wished for her to wake up. Anger. Because all those people had _no clue _how amazing Grandma was, and they had _no right _to cry while I couldn't.

"It's all right, child. It's all right to remember," she said gently.

"No it's not! You're dead, Grandma! How can it be okay when you aren't here anymore!?"

Grandma smiled sadly. "Because you have a new family now. Friends who will stay with you." As she spoke, images of Ed, Al, Winry, and Nadia -not Betrayal- flashed through the blackness.

"I miss you, Grandma," I told her, a lone tear trailing down my cheek.

"You've grown into a beautiful woman, Lyncasia," she told me.

I reached out to hug her-

* * *

I sat up abruptly, waking up from my dream before it ended. I sighed and got out of bed, knowing I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after that. I slipped on my hat and jacket as I walked out of the door into the main area of the hotel room. 'It's good that Al stays in Ed's room at night,' I thought gratefully, not wanting to see anyone at the moment. With that lingering in my mind, I opened the door and stepped out into the night.

Walking through the park around the corner from the hotel, I was marvelling in the fact that telephone booths were still in use in this world. Even my backwater town had landlines and cell phones. A loud, repetitive thunking noise, like rushing footsteps, reached my ears, and I tilted my head, trying to guess what would be making such a sound so late at night.

I spun quickly as I caught a fast movement in the corner of my eye. I relaxed as I recognised the man with glasses and yellow-green eyes sprinting towards me. "Hey Mister Hughes, what are y-"

"I don't have much time, Lyn," he told me urgently, "but I need you to get a message to Roy. Tell him the threat in the military is-"

"Well well, if it isn't the Kitty-cat," a dreadfully familiar voice mocked. "Trying to steal our prey, little Kitty?"

**A/N: Hughes! *tears* _Wwwhhyyyyy!_? Eh hem. So. Um... Review?**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I'm sorry for not updating! I just didn't know how to do this chapter, but I finally figured it out! This is going to be another sad chapter, everybody, but I swear on the internet, HUGHES WILL NOT DIE. It may look like it for a while, but he won't! So don't be too sad!**

**Disclaimer: After much thought and soul-searching, I have figured out two things about myself: I lie ****_constantly_**** and I own FMA. :P**

_(Lyn's POV)_

"I don't have much time, Lyn," Hughes told me urgently, "but I need you to get a message to Roy. Tell him the threat in the military is-"

"Well well, if it isn't the Kitty-cat," a dreadfully familiar voice mocked. "Trying to steal our prey, little Kitty?"

Even if I hadn't recognised the voice, I would never forget that almost-but-not-quite-human smell. In the back of my head, I knew I should be afraid, but my fear was over shadowed by anger. My dream had reminded me that I had been forced into this world by Betrayal; if not for her and the other homunculi, I would still be going to highschool with Nadia everyday. "Envy," I growled, turning to face the homunculus, "Come to stab me again?"

Envy waved off my comment carelessly. "You have such a bad memory, Kitty-cat. That wasn't _me_."

I glanced at Hughes, trying to decide if I should use my claws and reveal my secret or if Envy was just using scare-tactics. "Speaking of that body-snatcher, is she going to step out of the shadows or keep hiding there?" I glared at a spot behind Envy where I could detect another scent. The new one smelled human, but there was something... dark about it.

Betrayal stepped forward, watching me coldly. "Very good of you to point me out, but I suggest you step aside, girl. We aren't here for you. Yet."

"First tell me what you did to Nadia," I demanded, clenching my hands into fists.

She just smirked.

"Lyn," Hughes said from behind me, "How do you know them?" He had a small throwing knife in each hand, though there were undoubtably more up his sleeves, and was glancing between the homunculi and I suspiciously.

Envy grinned and replied before I could, "Her? She's just a stray that we picked up." His grin widened and turned even more malicious. "You, on the other hand, are a pawn that stepped out of place and learned too much. And we can't have that now, can we?" Chuckling darkly, Envy stepped toward the Lieutenant Colonel.

Sensing Envy's evil intent, Hughes took aim with a knife and threw it directly into the approaching homunculus' forehead. Envy fell to the ground with a thump, but as we watched, red lightning flashed around him. He stood up, pulling the blade from his head as if it were merely an inconvenience.

"It'll take a lot more than that to kill me, human," Envy sneered as he began walking towards Hughes again. The usually cheerful man was about to launch another knife at Envy when red lightning again flashed all over the homunculus. Suddenly, instead of Envy, Hughes' wife was standing in front of him. "Maes?" she asked confusedly. Hughes faltered at the sight of Gracia. He couldn't kill her. Then, the woman grinned sadistically, proving that it was really still Envy, and grabbed Hughes by the hair, shoving him brutally onto the ground and knocking him unconscious. Still grinning, Envy pulled out a pistol and calmly shot the man in the chest.

Where was I while that was happening? I was frozen in fear. Again. I could only watch in horror as the man I had come to be friends with was shot in front of my eyes. Only when it was far too late did I find my voice. "HUGHES!" I shrieked, watching in abject panic as blood formed in a puddle around him. Slowly, I fell to my knees; my legs turned to jelly gave out at the sight in front of me.

I didn't notice, but at that moment, footsteps could be heard approaching from somewhere nearby. "Tch," Envy growled, "I'll go take care of that. Betrayal, you clean up _this_." With a vague gesture at me and the fatally wounded Hughes, Envy disappeared.

Betrayal gazed down on me dispassionately before she abruptly coughed violently, clutching her throat in a sign of choking. She doubled over in the fit of hacking coughs that racked her whole body. Slowly, her coughs grew less violent. When the fit had almost completely subsided, she looked up and I was surprised by her suddenly expressive eyes. _Dark blue _eyes.

"Lyn?" Nadia breathed in shock, voice rasping. My eyes teared up from all the emotions I was going through; pain and horror from the all-too-recent fate of Hughes mixed equally with the joy and relief at seeing Nadia again. She was family in a way my parents never were and her absence had cut me deeply.

"Nadia..."

Nadia shook herself and she began to explain in a rushed voice, "Lyn, listen. She'll be back any moment but I have to tell you; Betrayal has the power to take over the body of a person who has a strong bond with another -like us- but she is incredibly weak without a body. Lyn, she isn't like the other homunculi; the only way to kill her is to do it while she isn't in a body, and to do that, you'll have to kill me. When you get the chance, don't hesitate." Her voice cracked during her last few words, showing her fear, but she smiled sadly at me before she suddenly began choking again. "And Lyn," she said between her hacks and gasps, "don't trust-"

But as quickly as she had appeared, she was gone, replaced by an evil creature with murderous purple eyes. "Oh no you don't, _girl_," Betrayal spat venomously, "We can't have you just spilling all of my secrets now, can we?" She grabbed me by my throat and tossed me effortlessly into a tree, where my head slammed against the trunk painfully.

'Nadia...,' I thought as I passed out, 'Hughes...'

* * *

I came back to consciousness slowly, forcing my eyes open even though it felt like there was sand scratching against my lids. I gazed blearily around for a moment before I noticed a figure standing a few feet in front of me. "Ed?" I asked in confusion. When he made no move to help me up, I grabbed at the tree I had been leaning against and dragged myself up. When the world stopped spinning around me, I asked, "What are you doing here?" Then the events of what had transpired before I fainted rushed back to me, and I frantically searched for Hughes. He had to be alive! He had to! "Ed, the homunculi-"

But he cut me off, glaring at me with hatred burning in his golden eyes, "You killed Hughes. Even if it wasn't directly you, you just stood there while he was in danger. You killed him."

I stared at him in horror. "No! Ed, I-"

"Just leave! I don't ever want to see you again!" he yelled at me with spite.

Tears flowed down my cheeks freely. I just couldn't handle it all! Why was this happening!? "But I thought you were going to protect me! I thought we were friends!" I yelled right back.

Ed simply scoffed and said calmly, "How could anyone be friends with someone like you? Someone less than human. You disgust me!"

Hearing him call me less than human was like having a blade shoved through my heart; it was exactly what I had been worried about lately.

Sneering at my traumatized expression, he tossed a bag at my feet. _My_ bag. "There's all your stuff. Now leave and don't ever let me see you again." With one last hate-filled glare at me, he turned and walked away, never looking back.

I fell to my knees in shock. 'First Hughes, then Nadia, and now Ed...,' I thought miserably. 'Wait. HUGHES!' Jumping to my feet as if electrocuted, I bolted over to where the man lay and checked for a pulse. My heart sunk in dismay for a moment, but then I felt it! Very faintly, I could feel a small pulse on his neck. With a small flicker of hope, I checked for breathing and _yes_, I saw the small rise and fall of his chest.

I started to feel relieved but then stopped myself. He still needed major medical care. Grunting quietly, I slung the man's arm around my shoulder and worked on dragging him to the hospital. I grabbed my bag and put it around my other shoulder as I walked past it.

I don't know how long I spent like that -carefully dragging Hughes and stopping every once in a while to rest my aching muscles- but it was like my mind had stopped and I was left on only instincts. I used my sense of smell to guide me to my destination, following the scent of antiseptic.

At long last, I finally made it to the hospital, where I was immediately swarmed by nurses and doctors who quickly grabbed Hughes and set him gently on a gurney, rushing him off to a place where they could treat him for his wounds. While they were preoccupied with his critical condition, I slipped into a nearby bathroom and changed into a pair of clothes that weren't covered in a red substance, the origins of which I tried not to think about. I gazed blankly at myself in the mirror as I adjusted my hat, unwilling to think about anything.

When I had changed clothes, I snuck out of the hospital before any nurses could see me and headed for the train station.

* * *

"I need a reasonably cheap ticket to somewhere at least three hours away from here that leaves tonight," I told the man at the ticket booth expressionlessly.

He seemed confused for a moment but then decided not to question me. After a quick glance a the list of planned departures, he informed me, "There's a train headed for Dublith in twenty minutes. It's a three-and-a-half hour trip."

"I'll take it." Then I handed him the money, took the proffered ticket, and went to a nearby bench to wait.

**A/N: Wahhhh! I was sad the whole time while writing this! Poor Lyn! But at least Hughes is in the hospital! And Lyn got to see Nadia again! So it's not all bad... REVIEW!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Wow, this might have been the fastest I've ever updated! (The second chapter doesn't count because I said so.) Who's amazing? Moon's amazing! So I bet you are all wondering about Ed's apparent asshole-ish-ness in the last chapter? Well you won't find out in this chapter! Mwahahahaha!**

**Disclaimer: You caught me. I'm secretly Hiromu Arakawa. Because that makes complete sense. :P**

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

The Elrics burst through Colonel Mustang's door early the next morning. Ed, as tactful as ever, immediately began speaking, "Alright Colonel Bastard, we're here. What was so important that you couldn't tell us over the phone? Jeez, we have our own problems t-"

"Fullmetal," Roy interrupted, looking so tired with bags under his eyes that, for once, Ed stopped and listened, "Last night, an unknown attacker shot Lieutenant Colonel Hughes in the park, along with three others who were found injured in a place nearby where he was attacked. All of them are alive and in the hospital, but Hughes received a nasty concussion. He hasn't shown any signs of waking as of yet either."

After their shock at such terrible news receded slightly, Ed and Al glanced at each other. Then Al hesitantly spoke up, "One of those injured people wouldn't have happened to be Lyn, would they?" Seeing Mustang's confusion, Al continued, "When we went to wake her up this morning, Lyn wasn't in her room and all her stuff was gone. You don't think she could have had anything to do with this, do you?"

The Colonel rubbed his temples wearily. "This might actually explain some things. The doctors and nurses said that a girl dragged Hughes into the hospital looking half-dead, but after they had rushed Hughes off to the emergency room, she had disappeared."

"Could that have been Lyn!?" Al asked worriedly.

Mustang shrugged in a way that, to anyone else, would have looked indifferent, but the brothers could see the tension in his shoulders. "You could go ask some of the nurses. I'm sure they'd know more than I do."

Nodding, Ed and Al left to walk to the hospital.

Back in his office, Roy mused distractedly that Edward had been oddly quiet during the exchange.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I glanced around after walking off the train, wondering where I should go. It was early in the morning, and after my nap on the train, I was beginning to realize that hopping on the quickest train out of Central might not have been the best idea. I had only a little money left; it was the little bit Winry had stolen from Ed's wallet and given to me 'just in case.' Thinking about Ed hurt though, so I pulled my pitifully light wallet out and checked to see if I had enough to get a decent meal.

I had just come to the depressing conclusion that no, I did not, when I felt someone snatch my precious money from my hands and sprint away. "HEY! GET BACK HERE!" I shouted as I tried desperately to catch the thief. Just when it was starting to look hopeless, I heard a clap behind me and a cage formed around the thief in a shower of blue lightning. _'Ed?' _I thought in shock.

I turned to see a pale woman with dreadlocks walk past me, snatch my wallet from the prisoner's hand, whack him in the head with it, and hand it back to me. "What the hell were you thinking!?" she shouted at the trembling man, "Stealing from girls who are traveling by themselves, you disgust me!" Then she looked at me and asked kindly, "I'm Izumi Curtis. Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," I answered shakily. This Izumi woman was kind of scary. I really didn't want to get on her bad side. "I'm Lyn. I was just trying to figure out what to do when he came out of nowhere."

She seemed surprised. "You don't have anywhere to go?"

I smiled weakly. "I left in a hurry and didn't really have time to make a plan. So now I'm kinda stuck."

Izumi appeared to be debating with herself for a moment before she abruptly turned and began walking away. I stared at her in shock for a moment before she called back to me and said, "Well? Are you coming or not? I still have to make lunch."

Grinning a little and only vaguely questioning the wiseness of my actions, I rushed to keep up.

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

Ed groaned in frustration. All the nurses kept telling them the same thing, but it _made no sense_. A blonde girl had walked in, dragging Hughes with her, and handed him off to the doctors. The girl had appeared uninjured, but one nurse mused that she might have been going into shock by the blank look on her face. Then it was as if the girl had vanished; simply no one had seen her after that. If the girl had been Lyn -and that was a very big if- where had she gone?

Al couldn't help but be irritated as well. He was becoming increasingly worried about Lyn, but no one they had questioned had given them anything very useful.

It didn't help that most of the nurses recognised Ed from his many stays at the hospital and kept stopping to ask what trouble he'd gotten into this time.

Finally, Ed decided to change tactics. "Do you know anything about the attack on Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes?" he asked the newest in a long line of nurses they'd been interrogating.

The woman's face fell and she sighed heavily. "He still hasn't woken up yet, if that's what you're asking. With a concussion like the one he has, there's no telling when he'll wake up. It could be days or months. And that bullet wound isn't helping, even if it did miss anything too major. But if you're trying to figure out what happened to the poor man, we can tell from the wound that he was on the ground, probably unconscious, when he was shot," she pursed her lips for a moment before resuming speaking, "It wasn't a lethal wound, so the attacker was either an amateur or they thought he would bleed out before help arrived. It was lucky that girl found him when she did."

"Did you see the girl?" Al questioned innocently.

She tried to smile at Al, but both brothers could tell she was becoming agitated with the undoubtably bloody memories by her thickening country accent. "Oh, yes I did. She looked dead on her feet with those blank eyes of hers. Barely even reacted with all of us nurses swarming 'round her like we were. We could see she wasn't hurt too badly, so we focused on the other one first. Then when we came back, she was gone!"

"And no one saw her leave?" Ed continued prodding.

The woman shook her head regretfully. "No one. You'd think a military hospital would have better security." She laughed mirthlessly.

Ed could tell that they'd gotten all the information that they were going to get and sighed, "I guess we should head back to headquarters, Al." He started to leave, but then turned back to the nurse, "...Thank you," he told her, smiling in that sad way people have when times are tough. The woman seemed to brighten with his thanks and waved cheerfully at the duo on their way out.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

"So the older brother accused you of murdering the man and told you to leave?" Izumi summed up my story when I had finished giving her the edited, homunculi-less version of my past few days. We were sitting at her dining room table while I told her. I think we were waiting for her husband or something.

I nodded sadly, not wanting to speak and risk annoying her.

"Hmm. And you said they were going to train you to fight, but this happened before they could?"

Another silent nod from me. Then I remembered how she had stopped the thief earlier. A brilliant (and only slightly insane) idea dawned in my mind. "Miss Izumi, could you please teach me?" I asked hopefully.

Her answer was almost instant. "No," she replied firmly.

"But Miss Izumi!" I protested stubbornly, "If I'm not trained, I won't ever be able to save my friend! The brothers definitely won't be trying to save her, and the ones holding her hostage won't just let her go!" I hadn't told her the real circumstances of Nadia's disappearance, but I wouldn't give up so easily. Not even if I felt guilty for lying.

"No," she said once again, "Why should I help you, brat? Why should I care about your friend?"

Tears were threatening again, but I tried to hold tightly onto my resolve. "Because you helped me when I was in trouble! I don't think someone who would do that could knowingly let someone suffer! And even if I don't know a single decent fighting technique, I'm still gonna go try to save her, and then you'll have the blood of two innocent people on your hands!"

She gave me a hard look for a moment before she smiled, pleased. "You pass. Alright, I'll teach you to fight, but we start tomorrow. And you'll have to call me Teacher from now on."

Surprised, I couldn't respond for a moment. Then my manners came back and I said, "Thank you Miss Iz-, I mean Teacher!"

Teacher nodded. "If I might ask, what were your companions' names?" she asked curiously.

I hesitated for a second before telling her, "Edward and Alphonse Elric."

Her face remained impassive and she hummed in response before getting up and saying, "I think we should start making lunch, don't you? Sig and Mason should be taking a break in a little while."

I nodded and got up to follow her.

"I hope you aren't a vegetarian," she said offhandedly as we walked into the kitchen.

**A/N: So... Not a lot of action in this chapter, but trust me, it's leading up to some serious shiznit. Oh, and I'm not sure I got Izumi's personality right. Can anyone tell me if I jacked something up? Just a reminder though, she isn't in her 'Teacher' role yet, so she should be a little nicer right now. Next chapter though... *shudders***

**Oh! By the way! When Ed and Lyn finally meet again, do you want it to be a sad but slightly fluffy reunion (I'm so sorry! *sob* Will you ever forgive me?) or an angsty and violence-y reunion (*punch in the face* How could you! I thought we were friends!)?**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: WOOT! THIS IS MY LONGEST CHAPTER EVER! It's still a lot shorter than other people's chapters, but still... So I bet you all want to see what happens when Ed and Lyn meet up again! And you guys probably want an explanation for Ed's asshole-ish-ness too! Well it's not going to be in this chapter! I'm quite enjoying leaving you all in suspense. }:D**

**Disclaimer: If I don't own FMA, may I be stabbed in the face with a rusty spoon. WAIT, NO! I MEANT IF I DO OWN- *stabbed***

_(Lyn's POV)_

"It's so cool that you and Teacher catch your own fish for the butcher shop, Mister Sig!" I exclaimed happily as he rowed the boat into the giant lake.

"Yeah," Sig replied simply. He really wasn't one for talking much.

Suddenly, I spotted something off in the distance. "Is that an island? Ooh, Teacher, can we go there?" I was so excited! I'd never really been sailing before, so it was a whole new experience for me.

Teacher smiled in a way that made me slightly suspicious. "Sure. In fact, we were planning on going there anyway; it's the first part of your training." She was now grinning evilly.

Crap.

When we were a few feet from the beach, Teacher literally _grabbed me by the collar of my shirt _and _threw_ me onto the sand. "Eep!" was all I could manage to say before she tossed a sheathed knife into my hands and began instructing me.

"That's to protect yourself with and to get food. Your first lesson is to survive here for a month. " I started to protest, but she held up a hand to stop me. "No, there aren't any harmful animals on the island. Now, this is usually only something I tell to my alchemy students, but if you figure out the meaning of this sentence, you'll get a special reward when you come back. _If_ you come back. _'One is All, and All is One.' _That's all." With that, Sig began to row back to the mainland.

I gaped in shock. "Where are you going then?" I asked, still not grasping my mind around what was happening.

"I'm going to go pick up a couple of students who need to re-learn some lessons," she answered, sounding terrifyingly angry. I pitied the poor students who would have to face her wrath. "Oh, and if you try to escape, I'm shipping you all the way back to Central! Welcome to Yock Island!" Teacher yelled as they sailed away. I could still hear her laughter for a few more minutes.

Double crap.

Son of a- !

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

Ed and Al were wandering the streets of Central in an attempt to clear their minds for a few moments. They weren't having much luck.

"Brother, I'm worried about Lyn," Al told him to break the oppressive silence.

"I know, Al. But I've been wondering..."

"What's wrong, Brother? You've been a lot quieter since Lyn disappeared."

Ed hesitated for a moment. "It's just... What if the homunculi got her? She could be dead for all we know..."

The brothers kept walking in silence.

As they were walking past the train station, Ed and Al quaked in fear when they caught sight of a familiar woman with dreadlocks accompanied by a tall, muscled man.

"Crap!" Ed hissed, stepping behind the nearest person, "Come on Al! Maybe we can get out of here before-"

"Before what, Edward?" a menacing voice asked from behind the duo. The poor shorty didn't even have time to turn around before he was grabbed by the braid and flung a good ten feet away. Al didn't fare much better; he received a roundhouse kick that sent him flying in the opposite direction as a greeting. "Get on the train," Teacher told them menacingly, a dark aura surrounding her. The threat of what would happen if they disobeyed was silent, but it was heard clearly nonetheless.

The Elrics knew better than to question the woman, let alone _argue_ with her. So the brothers kept their mouths (metaphorical or otherwise) tightly closed.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I groaned as I trudged through the thick foliage surrounding me. "I'm gonna diiiieeee," I moaned pathetically; I saw no point in just thinking it when there was obviously no one around. "Stupid Teacher. She could have just told me if she didn't want to teach me. She could have done something less painful. Like stab me with one of her butcher knives."

I could feel my ears perk up when a small sound reached them. What was that? I froze and waited for whatever it was to come out of hiding. In a moment, a small ball of fluffy adorableness walked timidly out from under a bush, sniffing the ground for food. 'Aww! Bunny!' I thought excitedly, not wanting to scare it away with a girlish squeal, 'It's so cute and sweet and yummy! ...Wait. Yummy? No! Don't eat the bunny!' But it was too late. Without thinking, I crouched, unsheathed my claws, and leapt at the poor rabbit.

Luckily, the small, fluffy animal saw me coming and sprinted away as fast as it could.

"Wait!" I yelled, chasing after it, "I didn't mean it, Bunny-chan! I just want to hug you and love you and_ eat you_- Wait, no!"

* * *

_(Ed's POV)_

Ed didn't dare fall asleep on the train for fear of Teacher tossing him through the window and leaving him to die.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

Ugh. Had it really only been a few hours? I was starving! Even eggs were sounding not-as-nausiating at the moment! Suddenly, I heard the sound of rowing and faint voices. "Teacher came to take me back!" I cheered quietly, not wanting to give any more animals near-heart attacks. I ran to the beach, but stopped at the tree line when I heard another voice with Teacher's. A familiar voice that made my heart hurt to hear.

"But Teacher! We can't spend a month on the island! We don't have time! We have to-" Ed protested from the boat, but Teacher interrupted him.

"You have a month to relearn the meaning of One is All, All is One and think about what you need to do. No alchemy. Same as last time, nothing on the island will want to harm you. Well, except that one new addition, but I'm sure you'll figure that out on your own." She smirked at her little joke before brutally flinging Ed off the boat. Al followed soon after in the same manner.

"Wait!" Al called as Sig began to row the boat back, "What did you mean 'new addition?"

Teacher just laughed. "You two need some time to re-think a few things. Try not to die!"

I stood frozen in shock. What were they doing here!? Izumi's voice from earlier spoke in my mind, "_I'm going to go pick up a couple of students who need to re-learn some lessons_." I swore under my breath. Why did I have to tell her their names!? 'Okay, calm down Lyn,' one part of me said to the other, 'There's no use hitting ourself with a brick over this. What should we do?' The answer came to me almost instantly. Both parts of my mind in complete agreement, I slunk back into the shadows to find a place to sleep for the next month.

Who needs the Elrics?

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

Ed glared at the fire where there had previously been fish roasting. "Al, I think we have a thief."

Al made a small frustrated noise. "Again? That's the third time already, and it's only been a couple of days!" He didn't need to eat, but Ed did and neither could stand not knowing what was stealing their food. "...Do you think it's the masked man?"

After thinking for a moment, Ed answered, "Nah, I don't think he would've snuck into our camp. He usually just scared the crap out of us. Besides, now that we can probably beat him up, Teacher probably would have used a different way to scare us this time." Then Ed growled in annoyance. He was getting hungry! "Come on. It's just an animal, so it must have left a few clues. Let's look around the fire for something."

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I listened to the conversation from my spot on a branch far above their heads. I took offense to the animal comment, but ignored it in favor of eating my hard-earned fish. My tail started swishing gently at the thought of food. Yeah, I was being cowardly, but why not make life harder for someone who hated me? So I bit into my well-cooked prize with no regret. I wondered what Teacher's riddle meant. And who was the masked man?

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

It didn't take long for Al to stand up from the ground with a small "Ah-ha!", holding a little clump of fur in his armored hand. "Brother, I found something!"

Ed examined the fur closely. "Hmm. It isn't a very common color of fur," he mused. "Well, at least it's not the masked man!" he joked.

"Good. But there aren't many animals with yellowish brown fur. It can't be a rabbit, so it's either a very lightly colored fox," Al noticed Ed grow even more irritated at the mention of foxes, "Or..."

"Or the 'new addition' that Teacher mentioned," Ed finished for him.

Neither spoke as they wondered what the new creature could be.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

It was a day or two after Ed and Al's investigation, and I was scavenging around the island for some berries or something. I couldn't rely on the Elrics to unknowingly provide me with food the whole time, so I let Ed have his fish today. Not because I felt bad for stealing from him or anything (because I didn't), but because I was too far away to get there in time. Yeah. That was my reason...

Not wanting to continue that train of thought, I began to sing one of my favorite songs from back home. I could never remember the first part, so I began at the chorus, "_Angels have faith; I don't wanna be a part of his sin. I don't wanna get lost in his world. I'm not playing this game!_" Heh. It almost seemed appropriate for my situation. During the next line, I heard something. A twig breaking underfoot? "_When the shadows remain in th_- Who's there!?" I unsheathed my claws. The brothers were on the other side of the island! I should have heard them long before they got so close!

I relaxed slightly when I saw a head of long, tangled, black hair. Just a kid. "Hey, are you okay? Who are you?" I got no response; the boy just stared at me with timid, nervous eyes. I gave him my kindest smile and offered my hand -claws once again retracted. "Are you hungry? We could go find some food," I suggested gently.

Still looking wary but at least more comfortable, the boy grasped my hand and we began walking. I took the time to examine him. His hair was longer than mine and was filled with knots and tangles; it looked like no one had brushed it in years. He was wearing a normal shirt and some shorts, but the thing that caught my eyes most was his right arm and left leg. They seemed somehow... wrong. Like they didn't fit. "I liked your song," he said quietly. I smiled at him but didn't say anything in case he was going to continue. He did. "Why do you have cat ears?"

My smile fell. I hadn't been wearing my hat because I needed to hear clearly to sneak into the Elric's camp. He didn't sound disgusted or horrified -merely curious, but I hesitated before saying shortly, "Do you like them? They've been like that for a while." He seemed to accept the non-answer, so I asked, "What's your name? I'm Lyn."

He didn't say anything for a while, so I was starting to assume that he wouldn't answer when he replied softly, "I can't remember."

I was surprised, but didn't question him at the moment. "Then how about we pick a name for you?" I suggested, smiling.

He seemed confused for a moment but then nodded happily.

"Max?" He shook his head. "Darren?" Nope. "Justin?" Nuh-uh. "Bob?" He gave me a look. "Okay, sorry."

Many, many names later, I was nowhere close to finding a good name for the kid. I sighed wearily. The kid seemed to be enjoying the conversation, even if he wasn't saying much. "Why don't I just call you Kid?" He mulled it over for a few seconds before grinning widely and nodding. "Really? Well, okay then. Nice to meet you, Kid! Now, let's go get some of that food I promised!"

* * *

_(Ed and Al's POV)_

Ed turned when he heard a rustling in a bush close to the camp. "Hey Al, I think whatever has been stealing our fish is back," he called. Slowly, both brothers got up and walked cautiously to the source of the noise. The sounds stopped a few moments before they got there, and when they searched, they found nothing. "Ugh!" Ed growled, frustrated and annoyed, "I guess it must have been a rabbit or something then."

"You seem tense, brother."

"Was that sarca- Hey! The fish are gone!"

Both brothers stared in astonishment at the place where two fish had previously been roasting. There was silence for a few moments before Ed stomped on the ground in anger. "How do they keep doing that!?"

"They?" Al questioned.

Ed glared around at the surrounding trees. "Yes, they. There has to be more than one of these animals."

Al laughed at his brother's dramaticness. "Come on, let's go find you something to eat and watch it very carefully while it cooks." Ed's gloomy expression only made Al laugh all the more.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

I guessed that it had been a little over a week when Kid and I decided to go tree climbing. Apparently, I was really good at climbing and balancing and all that good stuff now that I was part lynx. The part of my brain where my knowledge from the Gate was stored told me that lynxes were skilled climbers. If that was the case, I wondered how Kid was able to keep up with me.

Anyway, Kid and I were in some trees, quietly stalking the Elrics. Don't ask why; I don't know. I think we were just bored. Al's voice drifted up to us from the ground, "Hey brother, what do you think is going to happen to Lyn? What if she's in trouble and we aren't there to save her?"

Kid glanced at me questioningly, but I was lost in my thoughts. 'Al doesn't know? Did Ed not tell him?' When Ed replied, I listened intently.

"I don't know, Al. If the homunculi have her... I'm worried. Why would she have left like that?"

If the homunculi have me! That bastard! He _knew_ I was attacked by Envy! He _knew_ why I'd left! My eyes narrowed and my ears flicked angrily. Without realizing it, I had been leaning forward on the branch. Before I could blink, I toppled out of the trees, catching a last glimpse of Kid's shocked face before I plummeted to the ground.

The funny thing was, the ground made a loud 'Oomph!' noise when I landed on it. I looked down and found myself staring at the bewildered eyes of Edward Elric.

**A/N: Mwahahaha! Poor Lyn. Ed doesn't get any pity. Oh, and in case you can't tell, Wrath is one of my favorite homunculi. ^^ He's just so adorable and innocent and ****_violent_****! But never fear, you shall all get your explanations in the next chapter! (The song Lyn was singing is A Demon's Fate by Within Temptation, by the way.)**

**And no bunnies were harmed in the making of this chapter. -.- (I'm sorry Bunny-chan!)**

**Now, REVIEW! Or something might happen to poor Bunny-chan... }:)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY! I got distracted by the Rise of the Guardians fandom and then I got writer's block and... I'm such a bad authoress. *hangs head in shame* So, since I never really planned this far into the story, anyone got any ideas? Any special scenes that you want to see?**

**Anyway, I hope this is enough violence and angst for you guys! But don't worry, there will be much more violence when Izumi gets back. :D**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Ed... *nosebleed* And Mustang... *faints***

_(Lyn's POV)_

I looked down and found myself staring at the bewildered eyes of Edward Elric. With a small, "Eep!" I hurriedly scrambled off of him and all but sprinted to the other side of the clearing.

"Lyn!?" the brothers exclaimed in shock. "What are you doing here?" Al asked worriedly. I didn't respond, instead looking around for escape like a trapped animal. I could just feel the fur on my tail sticking up on end.

"Lyn?" Ed asked cautiously as he stepped forward. When he got too close, I snapped out of my daze and swung my fist as hard as I could into his face, barely suppressing a hiss. He fell backwards a couple of feet, landing on his backside. Then he shot up angrily, "What the hell, Furball!? You suddenly disappear with no warning, and then you show up here and immediately punch me in the face!? I'm gonna have a black eye!"

There was a black blur near me, and suddenly Kid was standing beside me, glaring at the short back-stabber. "Hey Kid," I acknowledged before turning my attention back to Ed. "What the hell are you talking about, traitor? You're the one who told me to leave! You didn't even care that Hughes was dying; you just threw me my stuff and blamed me for what happened!" I shouted angrily. Tears were welling up in my eyes, but I blinked the away in favor of glaring heatedly at Ed. Though he hadn't spoken yet, Kid crossed his arms and moved to stand in front of me protectively. The brothers glanced suspiciously at the boy, but apparently deemed me the bigger issue at the moment.

Ed was shocked into silence by my tirade, but I assumed he was just trying to think of a way out of the situation. "Don't you _dare_ come up with excuses, bastard!" I shrieked.

Then Al jumped in between us, holding his hands out as if to say, '_Calm down and let me think_!' Then his empty helmet turned to me and he said frantically, "Woah, woah, woah! Brother would never have said or done those things! I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding!"

"Don't try to defend him, Al! He probably lied to you too!"

Ed seemed to find his voice then. "Wait, are you talking about the night you left!? I was asleep! Just ask Al; he was in my room the whole time!"

I remembered something Grandma had told me when I was little. '_Never let anger and hate guide you. When you do, you become little more than an animal_,' she seemed to whisper in my mind. Little more than an animal. Less than human.

'Never,' I vowed to myself. Eyes narrowed, I reluctantly thought about what the brothers had said. Ed couldn't have left unless Al knew about it. But then, why would Al have been wondering about me before if he knew? The Elrics had thought they were alone on the island, and they wouldn't have kept the charade up when it was just the two brothers. That only left one solution.

Ed didn't do it. As soon as I reached that conclusion, the fight drained out of me. But... "Then how was there someone who looked like Ed and sounded like Ed in the park with me if the real Ed was sleeping?" I asked cautiously.

Ed ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know. Did the person smell like me?"

I thought back carefully. "No... He smelled like... Oh my god." I hadn't noticed at the time because I had just been knocked on the head so hard, and later I had been too distressed to realize it... "Oh my god," I repeated.

"What?" the brothers asked at the same time, not wanting to be left out of the loop on something so important. Kid stared at me expectantly. He must not have understood most of what was going on, but he seemed to be getting the gist of it. The Elrics didn't even seem to notice him.

How could I not have noticed the way the area had reeked of that not-quite-human stench? How had I not noticed the small flecks of violet in those golden eyes? How could I have not known immediately that the imposter was... "Envy," is all I said, but it was enough for them to get the meaning.

Al's soulfire eyes seemed to widen, and Ed swore loudly. "He even would have been able to sneak into the room to steal your stuff without us hearing," Al pointed out sullenly.

Ed almost appeared to be attempting to rip his hair off his head. Then his shoulders slumped and he growled resignedly, "Come on. Let's go get some food before we talk about everything else."

* * *

Ed was gingerly prodding his eye. "Damn, Furball. That was one hell of a punch."

"That's what you get for not dodging," I told him bluntly, ignoring a slight twinge of guilt.

"Well, excuse me for being surprised!" He sounded angry, but I could see him smirking.

Ed, Kid and I were sitting around the fire in the Elrics' camp, watching three fish roast slowly. I had to restrain myself from snatching them out of habit. Ah, the irony.

In a few minutes, Al came back with more firewood. He looked at Ed and asked (was that a tone of _mocking_ I heard?), "Did anyone steal the fish this time, Brother?"

I snorted, looking conspiratorially at Kid, who was grinning as well. "Been having problems, Shorty?"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT A GRASSHOPPER COULD STEP ON HIM!?"

"Something has been stealing our fish," Al explained, ignoring his older brother, "Teacher mentioned something about a new addition, so we think that might be it."

"You don't say," I drawled casually, picking up a twig and twirling it around my fingers.

Ed abruptly stopped ranting. His eyes flicked from me, to the fish, then to my ears. It clicked. "You!" he exclaimed, pointing accusingly at me, "You're the one whose been stealing our food!"

I put my hand to my heart in fake surprise and asked in astonishment, "You think _I've_ been causing you trouble on _purpose_?" I looked at Kid with an expression of fake hurt, "Would I do that?"

Kid looked at me as if seriously considering the question, but I could see the smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Never," he answered eventually.

"See?" I declared, turning abruptly to the brothers, but any more sarcastic remarks died on my lips when I saw the Elrics staring warily at Kid. They had apparently forgotten his presence until he spoke up.

"I've been meaning to ask," Ed started, "Who is he?"

"Kid," I answered simply.

"Yes, the kid. Who is he?"

"Kid," I calmly repeated.

"Yeah, who is he?"

"Kid."

Ed was getting irritated, so Al responded; he was more composed. "Yes. There is a kid. But who is he?" he asked kindly.

"Kid." This time, Kid and I spoke at the same time.

"Kid?"

"Kid."

Realization flashed in Al's soulfire eyes. "Oh, he's Kid." Kid and I nodded.

Ed looked like he was about to smash his face into the nearest tree if one of us didn't explain soon. "This," I stated, gesturing at the black-haired boy, "is Kid. With a capital 'K'. We met while I was wandering around the island, and when I asked his name, he couldn't remember. So I started calling him Kid." I left out the part where I spent an hour trying to think of a name for him.

"Where did he come from?" Al asked confusedly.

"He-" I started, but Kid cut me off.

"I don't remember."

Ed looked like he was about ready to demand where the child had come from, but I silenced him with a glare. Innocent or not, I was the kind of person who held grudges. Because I knew it wasn't his fault, I wouldn't try to make his life a living hell, but he still wasn't in my good graces.

"The fish are done!" Al called cheerfully, effectively removing the tension from the air.

* * *

With the addition of food, the atmosphere became much lighter and we moved on to more cheerful topics. At least, until Al said conversationally, "Hey, Lyn. What was your life like before you met us?"

My eyes darkened. "That isn't a very fun story," I warned.

"Neither is ours," Ed reminded me solemnly.

I looked at Kid. He shrugged, "Only if you want to."

I sighed. Then, resigned to my fate, I began, "I grew up in a small town. Not as small as Risembool, but small-ish. My mom was- is a kinda famous architect, and she traveled all around the world. My dad is a doctor and he... well, he just kinda lives at his own pace, y'know? He never really wanted to have a kid. Neither of them were around much." I took a breath before continuing, "When they were gone -which was a lot- I would stay with my grandma. Grandma was awesome. She told me bedtime stories and made cookies with me after school and patched me up whenever I got hurt somehow."

I swallowed thickly against tears. I couldn't think about that, so I told them about other parts of my life. "I never really had many friends because I always had my head in a book. I always prefered fiction over reality, y'know? The only close friend I had was Nadia..." I once again swallowed the lump in my throat. Talking about Nadia was almost as bad as talking about Grandma. Almost.

* * *

_(Ed's POV)_

Ed could tell she was upset and almost suggested that she didn't have to tell them, but then he saw the way her eyes had glazed over and how she was staring off into the distance. 'She probably wouldn't notice if I spoke at all,' he mused silently.

Lyn grinned weakly as she continued. "We did everything together. We walked to school with each other, we studied together, we did everything we could to get into the same classes every year. I swear, some people thought we were twins!" That sounded like him and Al were. Ed smiled to himself. He was glad to have the chimera girl back. Somehow, she had managed to worm her way past all the walls he made to keep people out, and her loss had hurt him more than he would ever admit.

* * *

_(Lyn's POV)_

Speaking of twins, I smiled nostalgically upon remembering the time Nadia and I had dressed up as each other on Halloween.

Then my smile fell from my face when I next spoke. "And even though I know there were other people who cared about me, a part of me wonders if anyone even noticed I'm gone. I mean, my parents aren't exactly aware of my every move. Nadia is... well. And Grandma..." A ghostly voice seemed to echo around me, '_It's alright, child. It's alright to remember_.' Gathering up my resolve, I forced out, "And Grandma is dead."

I was done talking, and the rest of our little dinner was spent with idle chit-chat and occasional short rants from Ed. When we were laying down (with me in a relatively short tree because I liked trees better than the ground), something in the corner of my mind kept nagging me. I'd forgotten about something. Something important? Should I tell Ed and Al? But I could already feel the blankness of sleep creeping up on me, so I resolved to figure it out in the morning.

My thoughts lingered on a pair of yellow-green eyes, open wide in shock and panic, as I fell into unconsciousness. Hughes...

* * *

**-~-~-~-~-Omake-~-~-~-~-**

"Then how was there someone who looked like Ed and sounded like Ed yelling at me if the real Ed was sleeping?" I asked cautiously.

Ed waved his had dismissively. "Oh, that was Mustang."

My jaw dropped. _"What!?"_

Al chimed in, "Yeah, whenever Brother forgets to turn in his report, the Colonel always pulls a mean prank."

"But... How did...? He...," I stuttered, not finding words for the ridiculousness surrounding me.

Ed tried to explain, but it really only brought up more questions. "It was dark right? So if he was wearing a blond wig, you wouldn't have been able to tell."

My mouth opened and closed in an imitation of a fish for few more moments before I found my words. "But he smelled like Ed!"

Looking confused, Ed sniffed under his arms. "I don't smell that bad!"

"Maybe he stole some of Brother's clothes?" Al suggested.

"I _knew_ I was missing a cloak!"

Then Kid decided to pipe up. "Wouldn't a grown man be taller than you?"

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A RUNT SO SHORT THAT EVEN OOMPA LOOMPAS STEP ON HIM!?"

"Woah, you can't reference that! It's not even from your universe!" I yelled.

Suddenly, the booming voice of Me -I mean Truth (God?)- echoed around us. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is in _all _the universes."

I stared around in bewilderment. "So they have that, but when I call him Yoda, he doesn't get it? That's bullshit."

I swear I heard Truth cough awkwardly. "There was an issue with the whole, 'I am your Father' thing." The Brotherhood fans began fangirling at the thinly-veiled reference at that point, but only Truth could hear them because their squeals were too high-pitched for normal humans to hear. The authoress facepalmed for not being able to resist putting a Brotherhood reference.

"What?" the Amestrians asked simultaneously.

"Oh, nothing."

Ignoring what had just happened, I asked the sky casually, "So Truth. Can I call you the Force?"

**A/N: So let me restate what I said in the beginning; I'm distracted by another fandom, writer's block-ing, and have little to no planning. If the next chapter takes a ridiculously long time, please be patient! And if it takes more than a month, you all have permission to chase after me with rusty pitchforks and torches. ;)**

**REVIEWS ARE LIKE CUPCAKES ON A SAD DAY. FREAKING AMAZING.**


	15. Author's Note

**A/N: Hi everybody. So, I know you're all going to hate me for this, but I've completely lost inspiration for this fic and I know if I force myself, the next chapters will be god-awful and ruin the entire story. I tried to get back into it, but it just isn't happening.**

**When I look back at some of the earlier chapters, I have to wince a bit at the cliché-ness and unrealistic parts; my writing has improved a lot since then and I want to focus on my newer projects. Besides that, I never really had a solid plan past this point, so I've kinda hit a roadblock where the actual plot is concerned...**

***takes breath* As you can all probably tell by now, I'm putting this story on a hiatus, possibly discontinuing it altogether. Sorry for all of you who followed/favorite/reviewed this story.**

**If anyone thinks that they might want to adopt this story, I'd be happy to put it up for adoption, but unless that happens, this fic is discontinued until further notice.**

**Sorry guys.**

**(God, this feels like breaking up with a boyfriend or something...)**


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